A Matter Of Life Or Death
by BnBfanatic
Summary: Missing Scene from the Episode 'Twilight' - now being extended into additional chapters. Initially I intended this as a one shot that takes place after Tony crawls up the hill from the now exploded white convertible and the story continues from there ...
1. Life Or Death

**NCIS Missing Scene** for the episode **_Twilight_** after the car explodes and Tony comes crawling up the hill barely holding onto consciousness.

**A Matter of Life Or Death**

"Hey . . . Boss . . . 'member this morning when I said I never felt better?" ~ pause ~ "I lied." Then he collapsed completely - landing right on top of the police tape that barricaded the area. His collapse was the result of several contributing factors: The shock and pain from being thrown roughly against the hillside as the rigged vehicle exploded behind him - the seemingly endless climb up a steep hill that seemed like Mt Everest to him - and the lack of sufficient oxygen due to lungs that hadn't even begun to heal from their near fatal battle against the Pneumonic Plague.

Within seconds Gibbs, Ducky and the rest of the team had shaken off their own shock at seeing Tony come crawling up onto the top of the roadside, having survived a blast that would probably have killed a normal man. Kate was always the first to point out even to Tony himself, that he was not a **_normal_** man. But all joking aside, she would have been the first to admit when it came right down to it, that she didn't want anyone else watching her six, other than Gibbs of course.

Ducky was yelling to Palmer to bring him his Medical Bag which wasn't your typical every day First Aid kit, it was more like a First Aid Kit on steroids. It contained items that most kits didn't have such as IV kit with Saline Solution, Morphine, a heart defibrillator, a full scale Suture kit and more.

Gibbs reached Tony's side before anyone else, Tim and Kate were in awe of how fast the older man moved to get there, while they were still just pulling themselves up from the ground. Gibbs could see that Tony's eyes were still open, though glassy in appearance. He was conscious which was the good news. The bad news was that he could still have internal injuries if the car exploded while he was still in close enough proximity to the powerful blast.

"Tony, I'm saving up a major head slap for you for later - for lying to me about something as critical as your health! Now lay still, I am just going to roll you over onto your back so Ducky can check you for injuries - and so help me God DiNozzo, if you even_ **start**_ to argue with me, I promise you - I will push you right back down that hill!" he threatened.

Gibbs' normally foul mood, tended to become even more harsh when one of his team was in jeopardy. He did show some occasional moments of tenderness - although those moments usually only occurred when he knew that no witnesses were in earshot of the injured party.

Tony had no intention of arguing with his boss and mentor, he just didn't have the energy, his lungs on fire from the exertion of trying to out run a bomb. He really was the fastest runner out of the team, or at least he used to be he thought. But he had forgotten, he had earned that title before the plague had wreaked havoc on his lungs, scarring him for life. Would he ever regain his former status as the fastest runner on Gibb's team? Right now, he wasn't sure, it seemed like he would never feel 100% again, but he always tried to remain hopeful.

By the time Gibbs, with the help of Ducky, had Tony carefully repositioned on his back, he started to unzip his Senior Agent's black NCIS jacket and remove the man's latex gloves that were now ripped and filthy, very similar to the state Gibbs' own gloves were in from the way he himself had been thrown to the ground from the impact of the explosion. He had been shocked by how strong the shock waves from the blast had been – extending all the way up to the top of the road.

He could only imagine the impact it had on Tony, who must have only been a matter of feet from the car when it exploded.

Ducky was kneeling down directly across from Jethro, with Tim, Kate and Palmer all lingering close behind, staring down at their fallen Senior teammate, lines of worry evident on all of their faces.

Kate couldn't wait any longer, "How is he Duck? Is he going to be okay?" then before waiting for the ME to answer, she shocked everyone when she turned and started yelling at her ailing partner, just as she had when he was laying in a Hospital bed having just been told he tested positive for Y-Pestis. It was her own fear that caused her outburst, fear that had all but taken over her normally calm brain, "DiNozzo, why do you always have to play hero?! Huh?! Why do you insist on **constantly** - " her words were immediately ceased by Gibb's own loud voice "KATE!" His single word silenced her instantly.

Tony was finally starting to gain more control over his breathing, having closed his eyes to calm the headache that was building, he felt the elastic of an oxygen mask being placed over his mouth and nose. His eyes flashed back open as he tried to push it away telling Ducky that he was already feeling much better, while at the same time attempting to pull himself up to a seated position. But, after seeing the evil glare of warning coming from his boss's face, he immediately decided to reject that idea.

Dr. Mallard was listening to Tony's heart and lungs using his stethoscope, then asking the downed agent a series of questions pertaining to his levels of pain. He palpitated his abdomen looking for any spots where the stomach was too hard - a sure sign of bleeding from within. He was trying to determine how severely the young man had been injured by the explosion itself, perhaps hit by shrapnel or injured more from the actual impact of being traumatically thrown against the side of the hill as he started his running ascent. Also asking him the typical head injury questions such as the current date and year, his name and other questions of that same nature.

Tony rolled his eyes as he answered, now feeling embarrassed over all of the unwanted attention that was being forced upon him. After all, he had an image to protect as the fearless Senior Field Agent, the last thing he needed was to look weak in front his peers, especially his Probie! But he hadn't taken the time to notice that not one of his peers were looking down at him with any kind of pity or disappointment, only worry and fear that their friend, part of their family, was hurting. Just how bad? That was all that was running through their minds, that and nothing else.

Ducky never wasted a second as he continued his thorough inspection, flashing his penlight into Tony's eyes then peaking, poking and prodding his chest, stomach, back and ribcage after having quickly unbuttoned the man's expensive black shirt with Gibb's assistance. None of them missed the obvious signs of moderate bruising already making their presence known on his torso - mainly from hitting the hillside with such brutal force.

Ducky finally broke the awkward silence that had come over all of them since the mask was placed over their most talkative Agent's mouth, "Well Anthony my dear boy, I'm not entirely convinced that a visit to the Emergency room is out of the question. Though I do not detect any immediate signs of internal injuries, a CT scan just to be safe may be a good idea."

Pulling the mask completely off his head upon hearing Ducky's last suggestion, Tony responded quickly, "Aww come on Ducky, I told you I'm f-" he attempted to argue while again trying to lift himself up from his horizontal position on the ground. But once again to his dismay, two sets of hands restrained his movements.

It was Gibbs who spoke, cutting his Agent off mid-sentence, "So help me God Tony, if you say your FINE one more time, I swear that if Ducky isn't sure you have a serious head injury now, the head slap I will give you will remove all doubt! Now, shut up and let Ducky finish checking you over - ya got that?!!."

"Shutting up boss." came Tony's slightly mumbled reply as he laid back down.

Ducky jumped in, knowing that Gibbs' rather loud form of discipline could either calm the injured man down, or raise his blood pressure even further. "Now Anthony I don't believe I said you were by means **_well_**. But if you are that dead set against another trip to Bethesda, then I will have to insist that you come see me periodically so I can monitor your vital signs and blood pressure over the next several hours since I am still concerned about the amount of bruising forming on your torso. That can still suggest internal injuries are a possibility. They don't always show up right away." he continued, "One can have a small bleed that can go undetected for hours or even days after an accident - or in your case, an ex-plo-sion."

Ducky looked up and caught the way his friend Jethro was staring at Tony's battered chest and ribs with eyes that were filled obvious worry. "Well, I suppose I can just as easily monitor you back at my Autopsy lab. But the moment we detect any signs of bleeding, you will be dragged to the hospital even if I have to drug you to get you there, understood?!" the ME warned.

Although Tony was actually feeling worse with every passing moment, now that the initial shock of the whole event was wearing off, but he would never let any of them know that.

"Great, okay Ducky fine, whatever you say. Now could someone help me up, we've got a crime scene to process." he was unable to stop his body as it started to betray his feigned wellness - causing him to pitch sideways as dizziness and pain suddenly washed over him. It was the strong and shockingly fast hands of his boss that had kept him from hitting the ground for the third time that day.

"Whoa there DiNozzo, just what the hell do you think you are doing?! Did I give you permission to get up?" Gibbs warned him. Gibbs did allow Tony to at least remain in a seated position on the ground, but prevented him from rising up any further by keeping a firm grip on both of his Agent's shoulders, steadying him until he regained his equilibrium. If _anyone_ knew how it felt to be blown up, it was Leroy Jethro Gibbs!

"Uuhh riiighht, got-cha boss." he replied in a sluggish tone - grateful to find that his dizziness seemed to be fading - comforted by and grateful for, the strong arms that held him from falling all the way back down.

"Alright the rest of you, McGee, Palmer, Kate – Tony's right about one thing, we do have a crime scene still in need of processing!" Gibbs shouted, causing Tony to flinch as the loud booming voice right next to his ear only exacerbated his already painful concussion. Gibbs, feeling the jerking of Tony's shoulders, realized he was pretty much shouting in his Agent's ear and reduced his voice to a more hushed tone.

"McGee – get the Fire Department out here and tell them to roll an EMT unit as well just to be on the safe side.

Kate – re-secure the scene, I believe the area we taped off will have to be expanded due to how far the debris from the car was thrown.

Palmer – get whatever you need so you are ready when the charred remains from inside the car are recovered. Chances are we will be finding pieces of what's left of their bodies spread out from here to China!"

"DiNozzo."

"Yes Boss!" the overeager Agent answered all to quickly, trying too hard to seem fully recovered, something that did not escape his mentor's notice.

"DiNozzo - **_you_** will do whatever Ducky here tells you to do, you got that?!"

"Yes Boss." came the dejected reply.

"Good, now c'mon, let's get you over the the truck. You are to take it eea-sy in case what Ducky said is true, that your colorful abdomen is signaling something worse. If it is, then moving around is only going to make it worse, faster." Gibbs nodded his head at Ducky, signaling the ME to grab Tony under one of his arms, while Gibbs took a hold of him from the other side. Together they carefully brought the Agent up to a standing position, stopping for a minute to make sure any further dizziness was under control. Tony felt ridiculous, he hated being treated as though he were three. He admittedly made a mistake by coming back to work earlier than Dr. Brad had recommended.

But as he was being half carried to the ME truck, he glanced back over his shoulder looking at all of the debris covering what seemed to be every square foot of the roadway.

Seeing Kate and McGee, it suddenly hit him - almost with as much power as the physical explosion - that had he not come in today, **McGee** would have opened the booby trapped trunk and . . . - Tony's body then physically shuddered and he had to all but force his mind not to go there.

His mind so preoccupied by the horror of this sudden realization, that he hadn't noticed he was now seated at open tail end of the ME's truck, a blanket had been wrapped around his shoulder's as both his boss and their ME had felt his obvious shiver – mistakingly thinking it was due to a worsening of his previous symptoms of shock - and in a way, it was. But not the**_ physical_** shock from his own traumatic near-death experience, but rather from the **_mental_** shock of knowing that his fateful decision to come in to work today, made the difference between life - or the tragic death of his two teammates.

**The End :-)**

_**Please take a second to let me know what you thought. Especially since I debated posting it since I wrote it for my own satisfaction after being frustrated at the missing of this scene in the actual epi.**_

_**Thanks for reading and reviewing!!**_

_**BnB**_


	2. Do you want me to keep going?

**Author's Note to Readers:** Should I continue this story by adding some chapters??

This was going to be a One Shot fic at first and the reason I ended it where I did, so that it would then pick up where the actual episode started (meaning the scene right after the explosion) where Tony was in Ducky's Autopsy room getting vitals checked again.

BUT – I am leaving the decision up to you as to whether you want me to add some more chapters. Just like all my fics, I CAN have Tony actually end up having a small internal bleed that ends up making it's presence known later and causing his symptoms to gradually worsen - ending up with him in surgery to repair the bleed.

Then I can have McGee and Kate feeling so guilty about how they treated him when he returned from sick leave, and feeling even more guilty knowing that he had saved their lives to boot – that they fall all over themselves trying to make it up to him and take care of him – more than he even wants them to!

Pls either PM me or submit your wish via the review button. Let me know if you want me to continue.

THANKS!!


	3. Field Day

_**Author's Note:** Okay many of you had asked me to continue this story - and while I initially only intended for this to be a One Shot - I have reconsidered based on your requests and reviews and had added another chapter. I hope that this was not a mistake though and I am nervous to see if this is along your expectations. Pls review and pls be kind. :-) If everyone still likes where it's going, I will keep it going. I will say one thing - it's going to be tricky to try and keep FOUR ongoing 'Tony Whump' fan fics - going without making them all redundant! haha __Enjoy._

_**Previously on "A Matter Of Life Or Death" . . .**_

_His mind so preoccupied by the horror of this sudden realization that he had not even noticed that he was now seated on the open tail end of the ME's truck, a blanket had been wrapped around his shoulder's as both his boss and ME had felt his shiver – mistakenly thinking it was due to a worsening of his previous symptoms of shock - and in a way, it was. But not the physical shock from his traumatic near-death experience, but rather the mental shock of knowing that his fateful decision to come in to work today, made the difference between the life - or tragic death of his two teammates._

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part II**

Gibbs looked across at his ME and long time friend, making sure that his shaken up Senior Agent wasn't looking, then without uttering a single word out loud, the expression on his face and the concern in his eyes, spoke volumes. Ducky knew what Gibbs was implying by the gesture – Jethro was asking that he take the utmost care of his agent and make sure that his injuries were not worse than they thought. Gibbs had a crime scene to focus on and he was mad as hell as it became more and more obvious that someone was attempting to take down his team!

"DiNozzo – one more thing! Just because I am stepping away now, don't think for one second that I won't know if you try anything funny – got it?!"

"Yeah boss – I got it." Tony knew when he could push the envelope with his boss and get away with it - and that_ this_ was not one of them!

Ducky took another set of vitals from Tony while letting Palmer focus on the bodies. In just a few minutes the Fire Department, the EMT's, and one of the local Police Officer's – or LEO's as NCIS referred to them, all arrived in quick succession. Tony rolled his eyes as he noticed the ambulance for the first time. He immediately sat up a little bit straighter as he attempted to show Ducky that he was fine. Then raising his arm up when he saw the ME turn around to greet the approaching emergency personnel, Tony quickly wiped off the sweat that had been building on his face since they had brought him over to the ME's truck.

He hated to admit it, but the longer he remained in an upright position, the worse he was feeling by far. He watched as the Firemen and their Captain all headed down the hill with a long hoses and some other equipment, to take care of the car that was still smoldering down at the bottom of the hill.

The Captain, a former Marine, approached Gibbs right away. He had known the man from their Military days and from other previous run-in's during both of their lengthy, new careers. "Agent Gibbs " he said as he reached out to shake his hand, "It's been a while since we've been called out to the same scene my friend – how goes the battle?!"

"Henderson – good to see you. How's Janice and the kids?" Gibbs asked, knowing the man's family well.

"Well – Nicole's a teenager now as you know so, she knows everything of course!" he said, letting out a loud, contagious guffaw.

Gibbs had to push back the lump in his throat as he remembered that Nicole had been the same age as Kelly, having to force his mind not to imagine his own Daughter as a teen. In response to the man, Gibbs simply ended up smiling and nodding in agreement as he had no idea what to say in response.

The Captain got right down to business, he hadn't remembered that Gibbs' even had a Daughter of his own at one time – and for this Gibbs was actually relieved, since he had no intention of broaching the sore subject in the first place. "So what the hell do we have here Jethro?!! Looks like someone took a joy ride straight into the fires of hell!" he joked, taking in the still flaming portions of the car's crispy metal frame. Upon which Gibbs proceeded to fill him in on the entire event and also informing him were to move quickly because he had work to do – he had to find out who was trying to mess with his team!

_**Back At The Top Of The Hill . . .**_

McGee and Kate had wasted no time in getting down to business themselves. A ridiculous amount of numbers had been placed next to each piece of evidence or suspected evidence. Photo's had been taken of each item as well as per normal investigating procedures. They had ended up walking farther up the road than they had expected! It never ceased to amaze them just how far debris could be flown in the event of a bomb going off. With each piece of evidence they found, they both shuddered at the thought that their partner and friend – could very well have been part of the evidence, and so could they.

"Do you think Tony is really okay?" asked an obviously worried and distraught McGee.

"Of course he is McGee! It's Tony we are talking about! Do you honestly think he would allow himself to get killed and not be able to continue to harass us on a daily basis?! Huh? Then again, knowing Tony – he would probably find a way to haunt us even if something _did_ happen to him." Kate chuckled at herself, finding her own joke to be amusing. Then seeing the look of complete shock and horror on Tim's face, she thought about the severity of what she had just joked about, and suddenly she felt horrible.

"I – uh . . . I'm sorry Tim. That was – very insensitive of me. I – I didn't mean any of that okay? I mean seriously Tony will be just fine Tim – really." She said as she tripped over every other word, back peddling and wishing she could keep her big mouth shut sometimes!

Tim listened to her stuttered attempt to ease his mind, looking back in the direction of where they had left their teammate. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. Tony really is a strong man – a tough guy as he would put it. Even though I would never let him hear me say that!" He said, slightly grinning at the thought of how Tony would have an absolute FIELD DAY with that one!!

Kate smiled and thought of her partner, "I wonder if Gibbs and Ducky are gonna make him go back to the Hospital to get checked out? I think they should because – geez McGee - you and I both felt the shock from that blast and we were no where **near** that car when it exploded! Tony was probably still practically on top of it." Her concern was escalating with each piece of utterly destroyed and roasted chunks of car parts they were forced to photograph and mark, the more she thought about the damage in front of her, damage done to strong metal and plastic – the more worried she was over what it might do someone made of tender flesh and bone.

All Tim could manage to say in response, was "Yeah, I hope they do." as he swallowed the lump in his throat that had been building, as he listened to each word of Kate's observation.

"No! Ducky, come on! I don't need to go to the damn hospital again! You said yourself I was fine – and I thought we had an agreement that you would just check me out again later back at NCIS!" Tony argued, having just been looked over by the two EMT's whom had concluded that more observation as well as some X-rays and tests were going to be needed in order to rule out any internal injuries and also determine if the current level of his obvious concussion was going to present any signs of worsening, as in continued swelling of the brain and such.

Tony was still seated at the back of the truck having full out refused to lay down on the nearby gurney. He had given up on trying to keep the sweat from building on his face, but too stubborn to lie down even though he knew that is what his body was encouraging him to do, by only breaking out into sweat whenever he remained upright. His head now throbbed beyond words after the raging rant he had just expelled.

"No my dear boy, once I gain I must remind you that I did NOT say that you were fine! While yes, I did say that I could monitor your symptoms in Autopsy once we returned to NCIS – however – that was_ before_ these two fine young men detected the tightness in your belly that had not been there earlier when I checked you over. An-tony that can be a definite sign of internal bleeding and that is NOTHING to mess around with and that is also something that I am not capable of checking or monitoring back at my Autopsy lab! I'm sorry Anthony, but I must insist that you go along with these boys to Bethesda and if tests show that we are wrong, and that there is no need for any surgery to repair any internal damage – then and only then will you be released."

Tony sat wide eyed – he had never really seen the ME blow up like that and he wasn't sure if it was from concern over his well being, or simply out of fear of Gibbs coming down on him if something happened to his Senior Agent that Ducky hadn't caught. This caused Tony to lighten up, not wanting to be the source of his favorite ME's distress. He was just about to apologize and give in when the ME added one more comment.

"You don't want me to get Gibbs now, do you Anthony?" he asked, his face sporting a half grin as he knew that would be the ultimate threat for the young injured man in front of him.

"Geez okay, okay Ducky – you win! I'm sorry if I stressed you out Ducky – I didn't mean to give you a hard time."

"It's quite alright Agent DiNozzo, it's quite alright. Now let's get you onto the gurney, shall we?" Ducky said as he gently grabbed a light hold of Tony's elbow to help him stand.

"Okay sorry but - I gotta draw the line right there. I am perfectly capable of _walking_ to the ambulance, I'm not completely dependant." Tony said with his usual stubborn audacity.

Before anyone had time to react, Tony had pushed the blankets around his shoulders off, standing up with more exuberance than his concussed head and battered torso were quite ready for. All of the blood seemed to drain from his head as he completely blacked out and fell forward. No one was able to get into position to be able to catch him before he fell straight down onto the hard ground of the paved roadway. Landing in a heap at the feet of three shocked and concerned men, as they all scrambled to get to him and make sure nothing else had been damaged in this most recent tumble.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N II : Now I will nervously await reviews as I am not sure if this is what people had hoped for when they asked me to keep this story going! I hope it is of course. Let me know!**_


	4. Out Of Fear Comes Anger

**A/N – I hope you enjoy this latest update. THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL FOR YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS! :-)**

**Previously on "A Matter Of Life Or Death" . . .**

_Before anyone had time to react, Tony had pushed the blankets around his shoulders off, standing up with more exuberance than his concussed head and battered torso were quite ready for. All of the blood seemed to drain from his head as he completely blacked out and fell forward. No one was able to get into position to be able to catch him before he fell straight down onto the hard ground of the paved roadway. Landing in a heap at the feet of three shocked and concerned men, as they all scrambled to get to him and make sure nothing else had been damaged in this most recent tumble._

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part III**

"Don't move him much – we need to check his abdomen again before we do move him, just in case!" yelled the Senior of the two of the EMT's as he attempted to stop the Medical Examiner and his own partner, from doing anything rash like rolling the fallen man over without taking necessary precautions. Rick, the Senior EMT, knew that his partner Jason, had obviously had the same kind of training as he did in order to become an EMT, however his partner had only been an EMT for about 6 months, whereas he himself had been one for over 7 years. He had seen it more times that he cared to mention, when a seemingly well patient whom had just been involved in a traumatic accident or incident, had suddenly dropped to the ground unconscious from internal bleeding or from hidden complications from a head injury. It was known as the 'walking wounded' and was usually due to severe shock that kept the person moving and functioning – but fooled everyone into believing that the person was not badly injured. Nick knew that his partner had not worked in the field long enough to be able to detect the signs as quickly and as accurately, as Rick was able to.

"Jason! Go get the back board – quickly!" he hollered to his partner. He was now kicking himself for not forcing the stubborn agent over to the gurney, since when did he let the patients run the show? He had to admit the unconscious man on the ground in front of him, was good. In order to be able to cover not only the signs of severe shock that in hindsight they now knew he had clearly been in - but also to be able to trick them all into believing he was well enough to sit upright through the examination, rather than laying down. Usually Rick could see right through the charade when other patients had tried to convince him that they were fine. Fine - fine - fine – why was that _always_ the word of choice when someone who _wasn't_ 'fine'– wanted everyone to _think _that they were?

He wished that the dictionaries would just call a spade a spade and just change the definition of the word 'Fine' to what it_ really_ seemed to mean, which was apparently the complete opposite! After 7 years of doing this kind of work, now when someone uttered the word 'fine' - he heard what patient was_ really_ saying: in some cases it meant 'awful' – and in others it meant 'absolute agony' – yet in some cases it took on a dual meaning of 'sick and lightheaded'!

As the ME stepped back to allow the younger EMT to bring the backboard over to his partner, he observed from above them as the two worked in perfect unison to assess Tony's condition – again - and prepare to re-position him onto the board and stabilize his neck and back as they probably would have done had Anthony not convinced all of them that at the moment, he was doing okay.

After sensing a familiar churning in his gut – something was telling Gibbs to head topside and check on Tony – or at least make sure Ducky had taken him back to NCIS or to the hospital.

As he came up over the side of the hill, his eyes were immediately drawn to the prone form of his Agent – laying on the ground once again and being tended to by two very quick moving EMT's and spotting his ME right next to them. "**What the hell happened here**? Gibbs hollered, this time not even bothering to tone it down for Tony's sake. As he hurried over to the men he turned to Ducky for answers since the EMT's were otherwise engaged. "**Duck? I thought he was doing okay?"**

"Now, now Jethro hold on there. He _was_ doing okay . . . at the time you were last with us anyway. But he had started to experience more pain in his abdomen where the worst of the bruises were located. The EMT's noticed that when they palpitated his abdominal region, he had begun to experience some rebounding tenderness and just before they had arrived, I had also noticed some barely detectable rigidity – "

"Ducky!"

"Oh, sorry Jethro – what I am trying to say is – we fear Tony may be suffering from some internal bleeding."

Gibbs face lost all color and expression, his eyes immediately darted back to Tony as he listened to Ducky finish bringing him up to speed.

"Tony's deep bruising may be more serious than his symptoms had initially led us to believe. It was becoming more apparent in the last few minutes that his injuries may very well have left him with some possible internal bleeding. While it does appear to be a small and slow bleed based on the fact that it has taken over the twenty five minutes for his abdomen to go from giving him a normal amount of pain and discomfort when he first crawled up that hill – to becoming more inflamed and quite tender to the touch as of five minutes ago. He was still quite coherent and alert though and he did not seem to be faltering But we did manage to convince him that he needed to go to the hospital for further tests and – "

"Convince him? What the hell do you mean – convince him? I tell you Ducky when he regains consciousness I swear to you – you're gonna have to hold my hand back because I am going to want to head slap him into next week! You shouldn't have had to '_convince_' him of anything! I TOLD him to do whatever you said - period! It sounds to me as though he disobeyed my direct order?" Gibbs face was red with anger as he thought about the aspect of possibly losing Tony – only 2 weeks after he had almost lost him to the plague. Concern in Gibbs' case always came out in the form of anger. Especially since he was too much of a tough guy to admit to being scared and worried about the man whom had become so much like a Son to him – possibly even more so than if he had been his biological Son.

Before Ducky could even begin to reassure Gibbs and get him to calm down, their attention was diverted back to the EMT's as they had eased the still unconscious Tony over onto the backboard, while Jason finished affixing him to the board with buckled straps and tape, Nick had pulled Tony's still unbuttoned black shirt open to assess his torso again. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at how much worse his bruising had becoming in just under a half an hour since Ducky had assessed his condition the first time.

"Sir, we have to get him to the hospital – fast! I can say with absolute certainty that his man is going to need surgery – and time is of the essence."

Upon hearing those words Gibbs stepped forward, squatting down to grab a hold of one of the handles on the backboard that his agent was now completely affixed to, his neck sporting a neck brace as an added precaution to the trauma his body had obviously received in the explosion. Gibbs was shocked at how fast Tony had declined since he had left him to get back to work the scene. He was now mentally berating himself for having felt that a damn crime scene had been more important than making sure that one of his team was taken care of. Sure, he had the utmost faith and trust in Ducky's abilities, but he felt like he had somehow let Tony down by making him feel that processing a blown up car, was more worthy of his attention.

"On three," Nick instructed his Partner and Gibbs, "1, 2, 3." Within seconds, they had Tony lifted backboard and all, and transferred onto the gurney. While Jason quickly inserted an IV into the back of his hand and then taped his entire arm against the back board, Nick had begun to pack up the rest of their stuff for transport.

Gibbs was standing silently nearby observing the flurry of activity, his eyes never leaving Tony's face that had now taken on somewhat of a gray appearance, almost as colorless as one of the corpses that Ducky worked on each day. He had been so intent on watching Tony and make sure he kept breathing - just as he had done many times while Tony stayed with him for a while when he was first released from the hospital recovering from the plague, that he hadn't heard Tim and Ziva as they approached him from behind.

Gibbs not noticing his surroundings, spoke volumes about the level of worry he held in his mind. Nonetheless, he still never flinched when he suddenly heard Tim's somber voice in his ear.

"Boss? What happened? I thought Tony was okay – we've only been away from him for like, fifteen minutes." He pointed out. Kate reached up one of her now un-gloved fingers and quickly wiped away a telling tear that has escaped from the corner of her eye. She'd be damned if she would let anyone see her _this _upset over someone she constantly complained about. Though she never told anyone about it, she had been unable to shake the awful fear that seized her heart when she first witnessed Tony almost die a couple of times in the hospital recently. That same fear now had an even tighter hold on her heart as she looked at his unnaturally still body.

Without taking his eyes off his Senior Agent as he was now loaded into the ambulance, Gibbs answered McGee's question, oblivious to Kate's internal battle. "Yeah, well McGee – he's not. He's not okay and dammit - I should have known better!" and with that, Jethro reached down to the ground and roughly picked up a clipboard that the Fire Chief had given him at the bottom of the hill – it contained information about the possible types of bombing devices that may have been used, he took it and slapped it against McGee's chest.

As McGee fumbled and barely caught the offending plastic, he looked at his boss with confusion and fear.

"McGee" Gibbs said as he was about to yell his instructions to the obviously nervous man beside him, but then he caught himself just as quickly and softened his tone. Looking away from the awaiting ambulance, Gibbs turned to look his Junior agent directly in the eyes.

"Tim – " he said, changing to a first name basis, "I need you and Kate to take over here, I am required to be at the hospital to sign any release forms if he . . .. if he needs surgery."

They were both taken aback by how 'un-Gibbs like' their boss was behaving. Kate turned to Tim, "Since when is Gibbs listed as Tony's next of kin?" she asked in surprise. Then her jaw dropped in shock when instead of McGee answering her question, she heard her boss yelling back an answer as he was climbing into the ambulance. Kate could have kicked herself as she had completely forgotten how remarkably sharp his hearing was!

"Ever since that bastard of a Father of his - didn't so much as CALL him last month when he was fighting for life!"

With that, McGee and Kate stood side by side in silence as they watched the ambulance, with sirens now blaring, as it took off - leaving them, along with Ducky and Palmer, all watching as it disappeared down the road - leaving nothing but a trail of dust and taking their friend along with it.

_**TO BE CONTINUED . . .**_

_**I really hope you are all still liking this fic! I know everyone has ideas on how they would have liked to see this episode pan out – and since I can't cover everyone's wishes, I can only hope that my own version is close enough to please everyone! **__**Thanks for reading AND reviewing!**_


	5. Lacerated Liver

_**A/N: THANKS for all of the reviews and such! I enjoy and appreciate each and every one of them! Please keep em coming! :-) **_

_~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~NCIS~_

_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death: **_"Tim –" Gibbs stated, suddenly changing to a first name basis, "I need you and Kate to take over here, I am required to be at the hospital to sign any release forms if he . . . if he needs surgery."

They were both taken aback by how 'un-Gibbs like' their boss was behaving. Kate turned to Tim, "Since when is Gibbs listed as Tony's next of kin?" she asked in surprise. Then her jaw dropped in shock when instead of McGee answering her question, she heard her boss yelling back an answer as he was climbing into the ambulance. Kate could have kicked herself as she had completely forgotten how remarkably sharp his hearing was!

"Ever since that bastard of a Father of his - didn't so much as CALL him last month when he was fighting for life!"

With that, McGee and Kate stood side by side in silence as they watched the ambulance, with sirens now blaring, as it took off - leaving them, along with Ducky and Palmer, all watching as it disappeared down the road - leaving nothing but a trail of dust and taking their friend along

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part IV**

Kate was suddenly overcome with guilt as she watched the back of the ambulance fading away in the distance. She thought about how she had plotted with McGee on how they would both act completely indifferent to Tony's long awaited return to work. They had decided to not act at all excited to see him that morning when he arrived to work on his first day back . . . back from an illness that nearly killed him. How could she be so cold and callused she thought, after all, hadn't she been raised to be a sensitive and caring Catholic woman?

"Kate?" she suddenly registered the timid voice of her teammate as McGee was attempting to shake her out of whatever trance she had fallen into.

"Oh, yeah sorry McGee, I uh . . . was just -"

"No, it's okay Kate you don't have to explain, I get it." he answered, starting to head back towards the hill where they had work to do, hoping Kate would follow.

"No McGee it's _not_ alright. We shouldn't have done that this morning." she explained as she numbly followed Tim to the edge of the hill. "Tony didn't deserve that, it was a petty thing to do and I apologize for getting you to play along." she said as she grabbed Tim's arm to halt him before he took off down the hill. She had to say this and it couldn't wait.

Tim realized that she was being sincere, her worry for her partner evident in her watering eyes and somber expression. "Okay . . .I know, you are right we shouldn't have done that and I feel awful. But you didn't get me to play along Kate, I am just as guilty! I didn't _have _to tell you what Tony had been saying about you – that you came onto him in Paraguay. It's my fault you even became riled up in the _first_ place. Hell, we all know Tony only says things like that just to get a rise out of us and we both know it keeps us on our toes! It's part of his charm as you put it, it's what makes Tony – well... Tony."

The whole time Tim was speaking, his eyes were staring a few feet away to a dusty NCIS baseball cap that was laying in the road at the edge of the pavement. Tony's hat. Kate's eyes followed his and together they both stood in silence, silently praying that their partner would be okay.

_**Emergency Entrance - Bethesda Medical Center . . .**_

As the ambulance pulled up Gibbs quickly assisted the EMT in pushing the rear doors open, then jumping out to assist with the stretcher, Gibbs stifled a small groan as his bum knee nearly gave out from the hasty move. Suddenly everything was a flurry of white coats and medical jargon as the lead Doctor on call approached Tony's stretcher once they were barely through the door. Gibbs knew that meant Ducky had called ahead, alerting the ER doctor of the situation. Ducky was known and respected by more physicians that Gibbs could even keep up with!

"Give me an update on his condition!" the Doctor commanded as he placed his hand on Tony's head and pried open one of his still closed eyelids, flashing his penlight in and out to test the pupil dilation. Then after the EMT's rattled through the list of vital signs and treatments they had started such as the IV flow of antibiotics and saline that were being fed through the large needle going into the top of Tony's right hand - and the plasma they had started him on for the possible blood loss, that was flowing into him via a second large needle feeding into the crook of Tony's left arm.

"Have you been able to inform Dr. Pitt of Agent DiNozzo's situation?"

Gibbs turned his head in time to see Ducky walking in – having been given a ride by the Police Officer that had been at the scene. He left the truck and the scene for Palmer to use and process. He needed to be here for Jethro, nearly as much – if not more – than he did for Tony.

"Dr. Mallard, good to see you my friend! Yes, as soon as I was given your messages, I had him paged. He was off today but he is on his way. I want him to assist me with surgery if we determine that your man needs it. I don't like that his lungs have been through so much – respiratory distress is already a risk during any surgery – in his case it will be that much more of a risk."

Gibbs felt stunned as he watched the scene in front of him. He felt like he was watching it in slow motion, yet it also seemed to be moving too fast for him to comprehend. He stared at Tony who lay as still as death on the gurney. Still strapped to a backboard and still sporting the neck brace. Bruising showing through on absolutely every piece of exposed skin that was showing through all of the various straps and equipment.

_'Who the hell was behind this?' _Gibbs thought, his hands clenching into angry fists. _"Who the hell is messing with my team . . . my Son?' _

Before he even was aware how much time had passed as he found himself lost in his thoughts and suspicions, already building a mental list of suspects to look into the minute he got back to NCIS – Gibbs realized he was now seated in the waiting room with Ducky talking endlessly next to him about some boring instance in his long past that involved a patient of his who had only one lung . . .

. . . "- and I'll be damned if the stubborn young Soldier didn't make it through the 11 hour operation just fine . . . " Ducky paused as he realized his long time friend seemed preoccupied with everything that was going on around them. "Jethro? Are you even listening to me?" he finally asked, but seeing the tired look in his friends eyes and realizing he had seen that same look on Gibbs face before just a few weeks ago when they first thought Tony might not actually survive his bout with the plague, regardless of Gibbs demanding of him not to die.

"Uh, sorry Duck. What were you saying?"

"No no Jethro, all in good time – that story can wait as I know you are probably eager for an update by now. I am quite flabbergasted that no one has been in since they – well physically forced you out of the ER cubicle. Would you like me to go see what I can find out?" he offered as he started to rise.

But Gibbs had beat him to it and was already half way to the door. "No Duck - I got this one!"

Gibbs voice was full of determination as he then barged his way back into the cubicle where he had last scene his agent. The neck brace laid nearby on the counter, the backboard laying on a now empty bed. The place was a mess of discarded bloody gauze and empty IV bottles, among a lot of other evidence that made it very clear - the patient in this room had definitely been in bad shape. Gibbs stormed over to the nearby Nurse's station, "Where the hell is my Agent? Dammit he was just in that cubicle and now he's not!"

The nurse, stationed behind the desk immediately started looking through the patients charts searching and eventually finding the one for Federal Agent Anthony DiNozzo, she responded quickly so as not to further agitate the clearly distraught man. The worried man with the silver hair and handsome face had identified the injured man as one of his agents but the nurse couldn't help but notice that he acted more like a worried Father might act if it were his Son who was rushed into ER in bad shape.

"I apologize that no one has kept you informed Agent uh – Gibbs was it?" she asked him, but after receiving nothing but a glare in return she continued. "It looks like they ran him upstairs to Radiology to run some CT scans in search of a possible bleed. It says here that they suspect that his liver has been lacerated and -"

"Where's the Doctor who was treating him?" Gibbs asked, cutting her off.

"He's in that cubicle over there, tending to a car accident victim. But . . . Sir! I'm afraid you can't g-" at this point she was yelling at the back of Gibbs head and knowing he was not going to stop.

Determined not to let some rule bound nurse stop him, Gibbs marched towards the cubicle she had just pointed out and angrily thrust himself into the room, not even looking at the patient on the bed whom he already knew was **_not _**Tony.

"Is this how you prep for surgery Doctor?" Gibbs practically spat out the word Doctor as he glared at the physician, challenging him to answer.

"Agent Gibbs I must ask you to step outside – and need I remind you that you are already _**dangerously**_ close to getting tossed out of this hospital on your ear!" the doctor gave Gibbs his own stern warning as he crossed the short distance to get right up into Gibbs' face – matching the silver haired agent's intensity and venom with a serious glare of his own.

Gibbs had to admire the man for his audacity and for his bravery in standing up to him – not many men did, or could. He forced himself to calm down, realizing that it would not help him to be there for Tony if he was thrown out.

"If you had merely kept me apprised of my agent's condition – I would not have had to track you down in the first place!" Gibbs explained in a firm but not as harsh tone of voice, "Someone just tried to blow up my team Dr. Reynolds, almost succeeding with Agent DiNozzo! So excuse me if I am not in the mood to play nice."

The physician had witnessed everything in the years he had been working in emergency departments across the globe. That experience allowed him to be better able to handle each situation with tact and compassion. Although sometimes it also took some restraint of his own emotions and anger in order to accomplish that.

"I understand Agent Gibbs and I apologize that we didn't keep you better informed, I assure you I will find out why my instructions to do so, were not followed. Now your agent is stable for now, the plasma and other treatments are doing their job. Aside from a few broken ribs, he also has a pretty moderate concussion that we are watching, I have ordered a CT scan of his head so we can monitor the swelling of his brain. I don't anticipate any problems with that injury but it will mean that any surgery will have to be kept as short as possible. Same goes with his damaged lungs – the shorter we have to keep him under anesthesia, the better. I do agree with the EMT's and Dr. Mallard, that Agent DiNozzo does have a small internal bleed. The location of his worst pain and bruising according to Donald, coincides with what I suspected - a possible laceration to the liver." the doctor salmly explained. But after noticing the blood that seemed to drain from the lead agent's face and the increased look of concern on his face, he realized how bad a liver laceration sounded to someone non-medical like Gibbs.

"Now I don't mean to alarm you Agent Gibbs, trust me that sounds a lot worse than it actually is. If it's a minor tear like I think it is, then it's something that we can easily fix and he will be no more worse the wear for having had it. I was planning on scrubbing for surgery in about ten minutes since it will take at least that amount of time to get scans back of his chest, his abdominal region, and his head. Dr. Pitt is meeting me in the scrub room where I will bring him up to speed as well. I want to take the extra precautions when it comes to his lungs since from what I understand, he's not fully recovered from his bout with the plague."

Gibbs clenched his teeth together as he listened to the list of injuries the competent doctor was describing. It sickened him to think of all the pain that had to have been causing Tony – and also the fact that Tony would now be forced to take even more time off to heal from yet another job related disaster. _'But this time,'_ he vowed to himself, "_This time I'll be damned if he is coming back to work even one DAY before his medical leave is officially up!' _he then reached out and shook Dr. Reynold's hand after the man promised that he would not be kept out of the loop again from that moment forward. He had told Gibbs that the surgery would hopefully only take about an hour and a half and promised to send someone out midway through the exploratory surgery to let Gibbs know how things were going. He also promised that Gibbs would be brought back to recovery so he could be by his agent's side when he even regained consciouslness.

With that Gibbs had no choice but to move to the waiting room where he found Ducky already seated and await the update he was promised.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**Thanks for reading and reviewing! I promise it will become more exciting and dangerous as we go!**_


	6. Of Tears And Trauma

_**Hi there all you awesome readers :-) Sorry for the delay in updating this fic – as some of you know I have been rather obsessed with another 'NCIS' fic I am wrting as well as one 'Bones' fic. I will also be updating my "Consequences For The Truth" story next! So pls keep reading and reviewing and thank you all for your patience and awesome reviews!! Enjoy.**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis **ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –**_

_But this time, he thought, this time I'll be damned if he is coming back to work even one DAY before his medical leave is up! Gibbs thought as he shook Dr. Reynold's hand after the man promised that he would not be kept out of the loop from that moment on._

_He had told Gibbs that the surgery would hopefully only take about an hour and a half but that tfhey would make sure to let him know when it was over, and when he could finally be allowed in to be by his Agent's side before he awoke in recovery._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis **ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part V**

_**Bethesda Medical Center . . .**_

A dusty and tired looking Kate and McGee came rushing through the door of the waiting room that was located near the Surgical Unit. Kate was carrying something black in her hands. twisting it into various shapes to calm her nervous hands. - it was Tony's NCIS hat they had found laying in the roadway. She knew how protective he was of his hats after he had broken them in to the point that they fit like a glove so to speak. she was so distraught that hadn't even realized that she was wringing it.

They immediately approached their boss and without speaking and he knew they were in need of an update on their friend. This time it wasn't the infamous 'Gibbs' Gut' telling him this, this time it was obvious to anyone looking at the worried expressions they wore on their faces.

Before speaking, Gibbs reached over and grabbed the innocent hat from the mangling grip of Kate's fingers, "Kate." he said as he reached out and squeezed one of her hands after taking the hat away. He looked her right in the eyes and in the 'nice Gibbs' voice that made them all nervous – especially Tony, he added a light hearted comment purposely hoping to keep Tony's spirit alive by getting everyone to focus on something humorous rather than tragic. A goal that his Senior Field Agent had become quite adept at and that the entire team had unknowingly started to seek and crave at times of intense danger, raw emotions or high stress.

"Kate please, none of us will be able to tolerate Tony later if we have to listen to him whining endlessly about his ruined hat!" and then he just smiled at her, not a full out smile but the half grin that he used whenever he was awkwardly showing any affection or concern.

Kate smiled back, giving her bosses' hand a quick squeeze in return as she then clasped her fingers together to give them company since they now had nothing else to grab onto. She knew what he was doing, Gibbs was making sure to talk about Tony in the future, mainly to imply that he _would_ have one! They all knew that Tony would never disappoint Gibbs so, if Gibbs said Tony would make it, then that was all the reassurance that Kate needed.

Gibbs had been intentional with his words, wanting to reassure Kate that her partner would survive this. In light of all that he had been through lately, this incident was mild in comparison.

Okay both of you - sit down for a minute and catch your breath – Tony will be okay – ya got that?! You two on the other hand - look like you should be patients here yourself! If I were to guess, I'd bet money you two probably haven't even eaten today have you?" Gibbs asked them, just as concerned for the two devoted members of his team standing before him, as he was for his Senior Field Agent. As the concerned duo numbly dragged themselves over to a couple of nearby chairs, they continued their silent stare and waited for more details that they knew would come most likely from Ducky since everyone knew Gibbs didn't have the patience to explain anything that was more of a medical nature.

Neither one of the weary agents had the guts to point out that Gibbs himself had ingested nothing more all day than his usual endless stream of coffee, meaning they were not alone in their lack of appetite and determination to find the person responsible for bringing harm to their friend, and nearly killing all of them in the process.

Ducky took the silence in the air as his cue to speak since he knew that Gibbs was too distraught over Tony, not to mention seething with anger over the mysterious killer whom had apparently targeted his entire team. He was determined to figure out more about what kind of person would do that and what would they stand to gain by doing so. Gibbs also realized that the killer may only be targeting ONE of them but in harming several members of the team, perhaps the perpetrator hoped it would throw off suspicions. It could also be that they just didn't care if others were killed during their pursuit of their _primary_ target.

As Gibbs stood up and started pacing the room, Ducky filled them in. "Timothy, Kaitlin, our dear Anthony is in surgery at the moment but first I want to tell you that you can be rest assured he is in quite good hands. You needn't worry that his surgery will be anything less than successful and seeing as he has been '_under the knife'_ as they say, for the better part of an hour, I do anticipate getting an update at any moment."

Tim spoke up first, asking what he knew Kate was also wondering, "Ducky, why did Tony require surgery in the first place? What's wrong with him?" as he asked the question, the ME reached over and patted him on the back of his shoulder in compassion and understanding.

"Yes, well Timothy, just as his Doctor and I initially suspected, he was suffering from some internal bleeding and that in and of itself can be life threatening. The Doctor was able to confirm through scans and what is called a _Peritoneal Lavage_, that Tony's liver was lacerated as well as quite possibly one of his kidney's. The surgery he is currently undergoing is to repair that damage.

The Physician is concerned about Anthony's kidneys since he only just recovered from the Plague merely two short weeks ago as you are all aware, an illness that already put quite a strain on his liver and kidneys due to all of the drugs that his treatment required. We all agree that the explosion most likely propelled Tony, with extreme force I might add, into either the ground or into the nearby hillside and according to the chest and rib X-rays that were taken, that significant trauma resulted in Tony's 9th rib being fractured and his 8th rib being full out broken. They suspect the broken rib or perhaps just the blunt force trauma by itself, is responsible for the small laceration of his liver."

McGee and Kate both looked slightly pale after hearing the diagnosis, they simply stared at the ME as if still trying to absorb his words. Finally they looked over at each other, mouth's hanging open, guilt of their early morning rude treatment towards their still healing partner evident in their glassy eyes.

Gibbs as usual, didn't miss their guilty glance and decided to say what he had been waiting to say all day, without even bothering to give them the respect of looking at them as he spoke, "Ya feel a little bad now that you completely dismissed Tony this morning when he came back to work – and yet he still stuck his own neck out just to save _your _lives?" he then gulped down some of the coffee he had gotten from the vending machine in the hallway, while just staring straight ahead at the waiting room entrance anxiously waiting for news. Both McGee and Kate made the wise decision to just remain silent, knowing that Gibbs wasn't really looking for, or expecting an answer, but that he merely wanted to get his point across and alert them to the fact that he had not missed a moment of the rude way they had addressed their partner – a generous and positive human being whom they had all come so close to losing only two weeks prior.

Thankfully the uncomfortable tension in the room was interrupted by a Surgeon in blue scrubs. Scrubs that were peppered in spots of blood here and there, Tony's blood. "Family of Anthony DiNozzo?" the Doctor asked.

Gibbs was at the man's side in a flash, worry lines so evident on his seasoned face. "Yeah Doc, we all are. How's he doing?"

The Surgeon looked around at the four teammates and how there was no way they were all blood relatives to his patient – then decided to forgo the usual policy since they were clearly a team and were probably closer than many of the _real _families he dealt with now and then.

"Yes, I apologize for how long you have waited without an update, I did not want to step out until I knew we had the worst of his injuries repaired. My associate and assistant Surgeon, Dr. Stanley Otterman, was sealing the laceration of Tony's liver using a laser soldering technique and when I get back in there we will make one more search to detect any more miniscule bleeds and take all the precautions to help prevent any infection or septicemia before we close him up."

"SOLDERING?!! As in like, WELDING?!! You are WELDING Tony's LIVER?!!"

Abby.

She couldn't contain her outburst as she barged in through the waiting room door. She had been outside the door long enough to hear words the Doctor had just uttered after having raced to the Hospital straight from the Courthouse. She was dressed in her most hated choice of clothing, a tailored dress suit, having been in court all morning after being subpoenaed for a case where she had to act as an expert witness and describe the processes she had used in order to decipher some critical evidence during a recent murder case.

Abby's shiny black hair flowed flowing neatly and freely, not in her usual trademark pigtails or braids. Even though she hated how she looked, she received stares of admiration from everyone in her path, men and women, because of her unique beauty and tall stature. She arrived at Bethesda along with Jenny Shepard whom had accompanied her to the Courthouse since she had a couple of meetings of her own to attend inside the massive courthouse. Every eye in the small waiting room turned towards the whirlwind that had just blown in. Gibbs was not in the mood to deal with Abby's intrusive and untimely interruption, "Abby – stop. Let the man finish, now is not the time."

His statement short and to the point, causing Abby to blush slightly as she was now starting to regret her own actions hadn't realized yet that Tony was still in surgery. She had not taken the time to stop and think about just what the Surgeon's words really meant, that Tony was _**still**_ in surgery. The only information that she and Director Shepard had received, was a very brief voice message from Ducky, informing then that Tony had been taken to Bethesda following an unfortunate incident at a crime scene and that they should come as soon as possible.

Gibbs didn't miss a beat, he looked back towards the Doctor, "Sorry Doctor, continue."

The talented Surgeon had seen it all over the years so he was accustomed to interruptions like that, even some that were far more shocking than Abby's display. He knew deep down that the woman was deflecting her own fears concerning her injured friend and transfixing her attention on trivial things such as the term laser '_soldering_' in an effort to intentionally shift her focus. This was also caused by what they called; a coping mechanism.

"Well, let me first try to put everyone's mind at ease if I can, all in all your Agent has been doing remarkably well and holding his own which we can all be grateful for considering his close proximity to that blast and the fact that he is essentially_ still _recovering from the plague. However, the lung damage he was left with as a result of that recent illness, now combined with internal bleeding and his other injuries – are taking quite a toll on the young man. Agent DiNozzo is also suffering from what we refer to as 'Flail chest' and in layman's terms – that is where the chest wall literally separates itself from the upper ribcage. This is a common injury when blunt force trauma to the chest occurs such as in this case.

The trauma to his chest has also resulted in a pulmonary contusion of his left lung, which combined with the flail chest injury, your man is going to be in a significant amount of pain when he does regain consciousness. That is why I would like to get your consent to perform a procedure that would help us to better control that pain - it's called an 'epidural infusion' which would allow us to pump a constant flow of heavy duty analgesics directly into the area, his thoracic region extending into his intercostal nerves. Now, this would render him partially paralyzed but only for short term until the worst of the pain has passed – typically 3-4 days.

Do I have your permission to do that Agent Gibbs? You are still his medical proxy and next of kin, are you not?"

Gibbs was nodding before the Physician had finished his question, "Yes, yes of course – anything you can do to help him, I will authorize. But I suppose I should ask if there are any risks or long term affects to that procedure that I should know about."

"Yes, there are risks that we must inform you of – the most severe being ongoing residual numbness, tingling , or even permanent nerve damage and/or partial paralysis. But I can add that in my 32 years of performing this and similar procedures, I have not had anyone whom any cases that were left with long term damage, plus I have gotten quite good at getting the needle where it needs to go."

"Okay – do it." Gibbs commanded.

"Alright then, thank you – I will have a Nurse bring you in the form along with a description of the procedure and all associated risks. I anticipate about another hour to an hour and a half before he is moved to recovery and then I will allow you to see him but just two at a time and for very limited visits. Now unless you have any questions I had best get back to our patient. Oh, he also does appear to have a concussion from the impact he endured but we can't begin to monitor that and run the usual tests to determine it's severity, until after he wakes up in recovery."

Ducky and Gibbs both thanked him as they all watched the man disappear. All 5 members of the NCIS team stood in place, their eyes still transfixed on the now closed door where the Surgeon had just gone through. No one moved, no one spoke.

The sound of sobs finally seemed to break the spell as all eyes turned towards the new sound. Abby had dropped down into a nearby chair and had started to cry over her friend and what he was going through. She wasn't a tough and trained agent like the rest of the group. She made no attempts to control her emotion – ever. Whether it be jealousy, anger or fear – Abby wore her heart on her sleeve like no one did. Gibbs was by her side in seconds, seating himself in the chair to her right, he leaned forward and pulled her head towards his chest where he just held her there, remaining silent since he knew she would speak when she was ready. "*_sniff* sniff_* - Gibbs why Tony? Huh? Why does it have to be him all the time?" she questioned, her face now wet from her tears.

"I don't know Abs, I don't know." he tenderly responded. "But who always comes through in the end and turns out to be fine? Huh?" he added, lifting her chin up so he could look into her eyes and reassure her, also hoping to pass off some of his own strength to her in a sense.

"T- To-ny?" she said in her childlike voice and with the slightest of grins starting to blossom on her face.

"Yup – Tony."

That was the extent of their conversation as Gibbs just let Abby rest her head on his shoulder while holding onto her hand – and there they remained while they all silently prayed that Tony would stay strong enough to come back to them. The team would never be the same without him and his lengthy time off for the plague, was all they needed to endure in order to finally see that they all needed him. Tony was definitely irreplaceable just as Gibbs had actually told him once to his face, shocking his partner Kate.

Yes, they all needed him so they all pulled together and waited to receive more news and hopefully visit him soon and show him how much he means to each and every one of them because if something should go wrong – they would never – get – another chance!

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**This is NOT the end – even though it seems like it could end here. I still plan to have Kate possible get shot (not killed) and have Ziva arrive to NCIS as well. STAY TUNED and pls keep those reviews coming! THANKS!** AUTHOR'S NOTE: The term Laser Soldering is actually something that they do to seal off the section of the liver, that has been damaged or - lacerated in Tony's situation._


	7. Of Panic and Pain

_**Hi there all you awesome readers :-) Sorry for the delay in updating this fic – as some of you know I have been rather obsessed with another 'NCIS' fic I am wrting and I also have a fan fic for the show "Bones" that I also had to update. But the good news is that I think you will like this chapter and I vowed at the end that I will update this one again one more time before going to update my other stories. I hope that is okay with anyone who may be into one of my other fics more than this one.**_

**_Thanks for your reviews and I am sorry I haven't yet replied to all of you, I hope to this week. Enjoy!_**

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis_

_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –**_

_The team would never be the same without him and his lengthy time off for the plague was all they needed to endure in order to finally realize just how much they ALL relied on and needed him. Tony was definitely irreplaceable just as Gibbs had told him once to his face after a close call, shocking both Tony and his partner Kate with the rare compliment in the process._

_Yes, they** all** needed him so they all pulled together and waited to receive more news and hopefully visit him soon and show him how much he means to each and every one of them because if something should go wrong – they would never – get – another chance!_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_ncis~

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part VI**

_**Bethesda Hospital . . .**_

The waiting room door swung open once again for the second time in 2 hours. This time however, the team watched someone other than the chief Surgeon walking towards them, this time it was a somewhat younger female Nurse or Physician that had arrived to give them all another update on their fallen comrade.

Gibbs was first to greet the young woman since he had been pacing the length of the room for an hour now while the others almost too worried to leave their seats, not having the energy to pace. In Gibbs' case, too much caffeine and an overabundance of anxiety caused by both concern for his senior agent and the case, made it impossible for him to sit still and wait like the others so he decided to pace the small room while beating himself up inside, mentally heads slapping himself for not forcing Tony to complete his entire recommended sick leave as prescribed by Dr. Pitt.

On one hand Gibbs knew he should also be focusing at least some of his energy on the their investigation into whomever seemed so intent upon either injuring or killing one or all of he and his team. But on the other hand, if something had gone wrong during Tony's surgery he would never have been able to forgive himself.

He reminded himself of a personal vow he had made years ago on behalf of his murdered Wife Shannon and Daughter Kelly after a military assignment in another Country had prevented him from being there to protect them from the murdering bastard responsible for their deaths, or being there to hold them when they died in the hospital – he made the vow when he first began to realize just how important his new NCIS team had become to him, including Ducky and eventually Palmer – he vowed to do whatever necessary to be there for each and every one of them should any of them ever be in danger or harmed in any way. His team was the only family he had now aside from his Father.

Gibbs met the rather exotic looking woman half way so they were standing a couple of feet apart in the middle of the waiting room. The rest of the team had risen from their seats and immediately gathered behind their leader. They were each silently impressed by the Italian woman's natural beauty, even Kate and Abby who were secure enough with their own looks to appreciate another beautiful female – complete with rich dark brown hair and olive toned complexion.

Without hesitation she extended her hand to introduce herself to the lead agent, "You must be Agent Gibbs." she stated, having been informed by the surgeon that she would be looking for a silver haired man in a black NCIS jacket with light blue eyes.

Gibbs quickly nodded his acknowledgment.

"I'm Dr. Abriana Bianchi – I will now be taking over as Anthony's primary post-surgical physician during the rest of his stay here. You may have thought the primary surgeon was going to have that honor but we do things differently in the trauma ward, we work on each patient together as a team so that we can combine the expertise of multiple Doctors and decide together on a very individualized treatment plan for each patient.

I can assure you that the two surgeon's who performed the surgery on Agent DiNozzo are the best we have, but their role is solely in the surgical arena and I then work alongside them to determine the appropriate _post _surgery treatment and recovery plan. I specialize in treating traumatic injuries such as the ones your agent received from the explosion. I read the brief report from the EMT's pertaining to the incident.

I don't want to prolong your suffering and worry so I will get right to the news you are all waiting on. Agent DiNozzo has made it through the surgery just fine and he is now being settled in the recovery ward where he will be monitored for any signs of post surgical bleeding, swelling or infection and then in 45 minutes to an hour, he will be transferred to our critical care unit since he will need constant monitoring of his injuries, concussion, vital signs, as well as his liver, lung and kidney function for the next 48 hours and then we will re-evaluate his condition again at that time. Once we get him settled there, you will finally be allowed to visit him – but just two at a time for now."

Ducky walked over to stand next to Gibbs, reaching out his hand to introduce himself to the striking physician. "Dr. Bianchi, pleasure to meet you. I am Dr. Mallard and I have been Tony's – well, ahh - surrogate physician if you will. I am the Chief Medical Examiner for NCIS but I also tend to any of the more minor mishaps these agents get into on occasion. As I am sure you were aware, Tony only very recently and barely recovered from a serious bout with Y-Pestis. I was worried about his weakened lungs handling the surgery – how did he fare in that regard if you do not mind my asking?"

"No, no of course I don't mind. In fact your concern is not unfounded and that is exactly what I was just about to tell all of you. About three quarters into the surgery, Agent DiNozzo did go into respiratory distress and you are indeed correct that his recent illness was to blame as it most assuredly was what caused his lungs to be compromised to the point that they just proved to be too weak to handle the heavy sedation and anesthesia, plus the added trauma to his body from the blast, certainly did him no favors.

But thankfully the doctors were able to quickly stabilize him which is good news. Now in doing so they also inserted a some small chest tubes - one of which will help with his breathing and ease the pressure induced pain that flail chest causes, the one used for the epidural infusion which is also referred to as a morphone pump that will allow us to pump paind meds directly where he will need it the most. Another tube is used to allow any fluids to drain that are going to continue to build and drain for at least a full week after surgery.

We _**may**_ have to place him on a respirator for a while but we will wait to determine that after he wakes up. While we would prefer to see his lungs do the work themselves so they become stroner, but his lungs may just be too weak to handle all of this right now especially with the added obstacle of the pulmonary contusion he incurred when the bomb blast threw him against the hill. We are hopeful that the chest tubes will be enough to prevent the use of the respirator but we may have no choice, I don't know any Doctor or Surgeon in the entire State whom has ever had to operate on someone following a bout with Pneumonic Plague – it's certainly not a common illness these days, thank goodness. But that is why I have to inform you of all the possibilities since we just don't know enough about how someone with damage from an ancient illness is going to react to anesthesia and such. But even if we do have to resort to the respirator I do anticipate his being able to breath again just fine on his own in another day or two."

She paused to give them time to absorb what she had said thus far. She took in all of the worried faces staring back at her. This is one closely knit team she thought. Then he attention was temporarily distracted by a young woman with black pigtails who suddenly spoke up.

"Ohhh nooo, Tony's not gonna liiike thaat!" she blurted out, speaking of the respirator. "Gibbs you know how he hates those respirator thingies! Remember?! He only had one in for **one** whole day when his lungs became too weak from the plague - at one point I thought he was going to pull it out himself!" A half grin appeared on Gibbs' face as he addressed her concern. "I know Abs, I know. Remember? I was put on one damn things myself before – so I **know** how awful they feel. But if the Doctor says he needs the respirator, then he _gets_ it – and Tony will answer to me if he even_ thinks _about touching that Godforsaken tube!" Gibbs threatened.

"Well," Dr. Bianchi interjected, "Regardless of the concern over his lungs I must say that overall, we are _very _pleased with how well he has been doing up to this point - especially considering everything that poor young man has been through not only today but in the last month!"

"That is wonderful news indeed Doctor." Ducky exclaimed. "Oh – and I almost forgot, you may want to converse with a Dr. Brad Pitt on Agent DiNozzo as well since he was Anthony's doctor during that awful time." The doctor thanked him for the information and assured them all that she would do just that. She then left them alone to wait for the next announcement – informing them that they could finally visit their recovering teammate.

_**Recovery Ward . . .**_

His mind was whirling as he became caught up in a very realistic and vivid dream – or rather nightmare as some would call it.

_**** Gurgling and gasping, coughing and spitting – everything done in an effort to free his lungs from the fluid and phlegm that trapped them from motion, kept them from expelling the exorbitant amount of liquid that his own betraying body was creating from somewhere deep within itself. He would give his right arm at this point just to breath normal again, to feel the silent rush of oxygen as it breezed into his starved lungs. To feel his chest rise and fall normally rather than seize up in fitful bouts of coughing and gagging. Blue lights were all he could see for seemingly miles around him. He felt like he was floating, completely submerged in some kind of blue gel-like substance. **"I will not die." **he barely murmured, repeating the words that Gibbs had whispered just inches from his ear every chance he got to visit him in the hospital. **"I will not die." ****** _

**One chilling nightmare seemed to seamlessly flow right into the next and he was powerless to stop it . . .**

_**** Suddenly his view changed once again, now he was no longer surrounded by blue – but he was under water nonetheless and still struggling to breathe, drowning for what felt like hours as he still fought desperately to find a way to get some oxygen into his deprived lungs! Then he suddenly saw the shadowy shape of a car a few feet in front of him in the murky waters, kicking his way closer to it he was shocked at the sight now before him – the sight of his boss staring back at him with death in his open and lifeless eyes. **"Bossss!"** he unknowingly mumbled aloud. ****_

**Just as one ended, another began . . .**

_He was spiraling down a hillside then felt himself falling – coming to land with a large splash into a small stream where he was once again struggling to catch his breath after the frigid temperature of the ice cold water savagely took his breath away. Looking upwards as he struggled to rise up and out of the nearly hypothermic liquid and just as he started to rise, he spotted the creepy, sadistic smile of Jeffrey White as the man in the glasses reaching towards him, just then the sun reflected off the single silver handcuff on the man's wrist, dressed neck to ankle in ugly orange colored material – some kind of jumpsuit. 'Wait! What is he doing?!' Tony thought as he began to panic - 'Oh no he's going to push my head back under the water and hold it there until I drown! __**"Giibbbss!"**_

_**. . . and another . . .**_

_**** Staggering forward, stumbling and tripping. His breathing was becoming slower and slower to the point that he felt as though it would soon stop completely! His legs felt like they were suddenly made of lead as he tried so hard to put on foot in front of the other with little success._

_Looking around slowly he saw that he was in a dark alley behind what looked to be just a regular dive bar. What was wrong with him? Was he drunk? Had he ingested one too many beers? He then felt something in his hand and looked down to thankfully find his cell phone gripped weakly inside his closed fist, feeling as though he were moving through mud he slowly flipped open the phone and managed to hit speed dial number one just as his body started to drop downward, falling first to his knees and then the rest of the way until he was laying on the pavement next to his car, keys having fallen just inches from his side. __Before losing consciousness completely he weakly called out to the invisible person whose voice he could hear calling frantically out to him from his still open cell phone as he lay there, he barely forced out his own plea before fading all the way into complete darkeness. __**"Boss-sss helll-p me." **__****_

_**Hospital Waiting room . . .**_

Gibbs and team had decided since they finally had the peace of mind of knowing that it looked like Tony was going to make it, they started to take advantage of their time together to discuss possible motives and potential perpetrators whom may have enough of a grudge for whatever reason or from a past arrest that this NCIS team had been involved with.

They each threw out names of possible suspects and associated reasons on why that person may have acted on their past threats to the team or an individual member. They did determine that it seemed as though someone were out to harm the entire team and not just one of them since the bomb in the car could never have been able to target just one agent. There is no way the suspect would have been able to predetermine who would open the trunk of the car. They just knew that someone eventually, would.

Their focus was interrupted when yet another member of the medical staff came directly towards them. This time it was a twenty five year old male nurse, sent by Dr. Bianchi with a message.

"I am looking for an Agent uh, Gibbs?" he rather bashfully inquired.

Once Gibbs moved forward towards him the nurse continued, "The Doctor would like you to come with me to meet her in recovery."

"Is there a problem? Is there something going on with my agent?" Gibbs demanded in his usual gruff tone.

"Uh, well yes and no." replied the now nervous staff member, intimidated already by the Marine's stern demeanor. "Uh Sir he is still doing well from a medical standpoint but he seems unnaturally agitated and distressed and randomly keeps calling out your name. The Doctor feels it may be invaluable to the patient's recovery if you can help calm him down. It's common for patients to experience some vivid dreams or nightmares after being given anesthesia - but she feels this is a lot more pronounced and worrisome than the usual post surgery reactions that we tend to see. Would you mind coming with me?"

But once they disappeared through the door and into the hallway, the nurse found that_ he _was the one who had to run to keep up with the determined NCIS leader as Gibbs all but charged towards the recovery ward since he knew all to well where it was located – having already been there enough times with one teammate or another to be able to get there blindfolded!

_**Recovery Ward – Tony's Cubicle . . . **_

"**Boss-sss helll-p me."**

That was the first thing Gibbs heard, albeit barely as he rushed towards Tony's bed. His agent's voice was as weak as he had ever heard it, raspy from the tube that is used in nearly every surgery so the anesthesiologist can monitor the patient's breathing. Gibbs' eyes flashed worriedly back and forth between Tony and Dr. Bianchi who was standing to the left of Tony's bed checking his vitals, IV's, tubes and associated machinery so Gibbs quickly positioned himself on the right side of his agent's bed.

"Good Agent Gibbs, thank you for coming in so quickly. I just think he might respond better to your voice since we have been unsuccessful in calming him down. He seems to be caught in some pretty bad nightmares judging by his frantic movements and the way he keeps calling out. He mainly calls out your name – saying either 'Boss' or "Gibbs'. I am afraid he will cause himself further harm if we don't control his behavior and movements. I obtained a copy of his Y-Pestis file that Dr. Pitt sent to me electronically, and he had made some notes stating how much Agent DiNozzo always calmed down and improved whenever you came to see him. I am hoping you can work your magic again since I do not want to have to use restraints if we can avoid it."

Gibbs had to squelch the smile that he felt inside upon hearing how much his presence had helped Tony last time, he had no idea. The last time anyone had reacted that way to his presence had been when Shannon and Kelly were alive. It melted his heart to know that Tony trusted and valued his presence to almost that same extent.

"Well, I'll do what I can. Oh by the way, just call him Tony when he does wake up. Trust me, he would insist upon it if he could. Just don't call him Anthony or I can't be responsible for his reaction." Gibbs forewarned her.

Then his focus was brought back to his senior field agent when he felt the drugged man start to writhe around again and fight from his bed. Arms flailing as though he were trying to swim, grab or even hit something. "Boss-ss " he slurred, eyes tightly shut with absolutely no awareness of his surroundings whatsoever. He was clearly still caught up in the effects of the anesthesia and hadn't fully regained consciousness.

"What else has he been saying Dr. Bianchi?" he asked.

"Yes of course, oh and please call me Abriana. Let's see, he called out to you as both boss and as Gibbs, he kept repeating the phrase 'I - will - not - die" a few times, and hmmm . . . oh and he also called out the word 'help' periodically and even then I have the feeling he was calling that out to you, or at least in his subconscious mind he was."

Gibbs thought about the words 'I – will – not – die." and he was once again filled with a warmth he could not describe as he knew that Tony must have been dreaming of his worst time with the plague when Gibbs had ordered him by saying; "You – will – not – die." repeatedly until Tony acknowledged the order.

Then with reflexes like a cat Gibbs grabbed onto each of Tony's flailing arms and pressed them as gently as he could down to rest against each side of Tony's body, careful not to bump his bandaged chest or any of the protruding tubes.

"TONY! Tony listen to me – it's Gibbs! I am here DiNozzo - I've got your six now -ya got that?!!"

Then as he noticed that Tony had stilled a bit although still slightly tensed as though he was not sure if he could believe what he was hearing. Gibbs then leaned in closer to Tony's ear just like he did when he was close to death with the plague, and in his most gentle tone of voice possible he added further instructions.

"You can **relax** now Tony - I got ya! Just rest now, I am not gonna let anything happen to you okay?!" he just kept trying to drive that same point across in as many ways as possible in order to get through to the unconscious man who seemed on the verge of waking up.

But instead of seeing Tony give up his struggle and relax, Gibbs was frightened all over again when Tony began thrashing his head side to side and eventually started to lift his head up off the pillow as though trying to sit up. Since Gibbs had his arms pinned, his head was the only thing he still could attempt to move. Gibbs watched anxiously as Tony's eyes started to flutter, finally opening but instead of instantly calming down once he spotted his bosses' face – Tony's eyes grew even wider and he had a look of sheer panic etched in his pale face.

"Tony, what is it?! What's wrong?!" Gibbs knew him well enough to be able to decipher between panic and fear when it came to his senior field agent's facial expressions and noting that every muscle in Tony's face seemed to be bulging out and straining fiercely. Gibbs knew this to be a clearcut sign that he was struggling and suffering horrifically - but from what? He did know one thing - Tony was never _afraid _of anything, therefore that meant that the look in his eyes was clearly panic and pain driven causing Gibbs' famous gut to churn like never before, something was wrong!

He leaned forward as he heard Tony struggling to get a few words out while trying to force his glassy eyes to focus and look eye to eye with his boss. "Tony what is it?! I couldn't make out what you said. You have to try again, tell me what's wrong so I can help you!!"

Now it was Gibbs turn to panic.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**Aaauugghhh- yikes that's one hell of a cliffie again – don't hate me too much! Haha This was my favorite chapter to write thus far in any of my stories. I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed writing it! I will make sure to update THIS story before any of my other's just cuz I HATE when I read a good cliffhanger and then have to wait for weeks to read the outcome!**_

**Flail Chest Facts:**

Flail chest is invariably accompanied by pulmonary contusion, a bruise of the lung tissue that can interfere with blood oxygenation. Often, it is the contusion, not the flail segment, that is the main cause of respiratory failure in patients with both injuries.


	8. Crisis In Recovery

_**Hi there all you awesome readers :-) Sorry for the delay in updating this fic – as some of you know I have been rather obsessed with another 'NCIS' fic I am wrting as well as one 'Bones' fic. This chapter wrote itself in a sense so I just went with it! THANKS FOR YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS**_

_**IMPORTANT PLS READ: **Some of the information in this chapter regarding the medications and medical procedures are factual and some are NOT. Just go with it and don't correct me since I think it's real enough to believe for the sake of fan fic and that's all I care about._

_**2nd IMPORTANT NOTE: **In this story I am going to have PALMER in it even though he wasn't on the show around the episode "Twilight". I am also NOT killing Kate although I can't say whether she will or won't be injured. I still plan on having ZIVA join the team but with Kate alive it will be a whole new dynamic. I don't plan to have the two women get along so it should be fun to watch as they both try to catch Tony's eye! Dr. Abriana Biachi will also be secretly crushing on Tony so that will make for triple the fun! The story will take some more turns in the upcoming chapters beginning with the next one**. Enjoy :-D**_

_**~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~**_

_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –**_

He leaned forward as he heard Tony struggling to get a few words out while trying to get his glassy eyes to focus and look eye to eye with his boss. "Tony what is it?! I didn't hear what you said, please you have to try again, tell me what is wrong!"

Now it was Gibbs turn to panic.

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part VII**

_**Bethesda Hospital . . .**_

Gibbs was leaning down so his ear was as near to Tony's mouth as he could get.

"Can't *_gasp_* breeatthhe!" he mumbled while scrunching his eyes shut as if in tremendous pain. Then Gibbs heard wet gurgling sound that had come from deep from within Tony's throat as though it were literally choking him. Dr. Bianchi reacted instantly, pressing the call button above Tony's bed and then yelled into the intercom demanding help in cubicle 7 stating that the patient was in full respiratory distress.

Gibbs kept whispering reassuring words to his agent while pulling from all of the strength he had in a valiant effort to quell his own panic that was threatening to overwhelm him. "Okay Tony, I heard you - now please just try to stay calm, just listen to my voice alright? You will be able to breath better in just a minute. The Doctor's here, she's going to help you – you can do this Tony!" then he reached down and grabbed onto of Tony's hand, grasping it firmly within his own, hoping to somehow pass some of his own strength to his struggling agent and also make sure Tony knew that he was right there beside him and watching his six.

Within seconds there were three additional staff members rushing into the room with a cart and trays that contained everything necessary to first clear out the fluids that still seemed to be literally choking Tony from the inside out, and than get him hooked up to a respirator. As one of them moved towards the side of the bed where Gibbs was positioned looking as though she was about to push him aside - or out. Gibbs merely moved up towards the wall where the head of the bed was positioned and then widened his stance to alert her that he would not be going anywhere.

The nervous nurse immediately looked towards the lead Doctor with uncertainty only to see Dr. Bianchi nodding her approval that Gibbs had her permission to remain in the room.

The intuitive Dr. Bianchi had decided to allow him to stay from the very second she saw the calming influence he had on her patient. 'Seems _Dr. Pitt wasn't exaggerating at all.' _she thought.

Tony had been physically struggling to try to sit up in order to find some way to get the air that he needed into his lungs – but after just seconds of listening to his Bosses' soft words, he ceased his fight and seemed to focus only on the feeling of his bosses' reassuring hand squeeze and words of soft support. She then took advantage of Tony's new focus on his boss.

"Anna - administer the Lidocaine and Fentanyl." she instructed in a whispered tone of voice. The young nurse quickly injected enough of the sedating pain meds drugs into Tony's IV port to not only relieve the man's excruciating pain but to also knock him out completely since they needed him to be absolutely still for intubation. It was necessary at least until his lungs became strong enough to do the job themselves. Once Tony's eyes had drifted shut and his body became completely lax the Doctor started doling out instructions.

"Okay now listen! This man is going into full respiratory failure we need to move quickly! We need to get this man some air NOW! I need suction and please prepare for intubation!" the Doctor demanded as she continued giving instructions to each and every one of them while she continued with her own tasks with amazing speed. She started with the only male nurse in the room.

"Jake - I need you to to inspect all of chest tubes! Make sure they are still draining properly and check for any blockage! I want a full status report when you are done."

Gibbs watched as the efficient younger man had pulled down the blanket and top sheet that had kept Tony's torso covered and warm. He then quickly untied the strings that held Tony's hospital gown closed from the front, mainly for easier access, Gibbs had not been prepared for the sight before him as he now had a full view of the heavy bandaging that completely covered Tony's chest and abdomen, not to mention all of the different sized tubes that were protruding from various places. Gibbs had to swallow down the ball of emotion that had suddenly climbed up and tried to settle in his throat.

He watched in silent shock as the man produced small sterile scissors and proceeded to cut away small portions of gauze in order to check each tube to not only make sure that none of the tubes had become dislodged when Tony had been struggling, but to also inspect them for any clots that may have become lodged inside and hence preventing the dangerous amount of fluids to properly drain.

Gibbs found he could not force his eyes to look away, but since he had promised Tony that he would his six, he figured two sets of eyes inspecting the tubes could only be helpful. His eyes grew wide as he noticed something at the exact same moment the nurse also spotted it.

"Doctor, I found the problem! There is indeed blockage in the tube exiting the pleural space!" he needed no further instructions from her as he immediately reached out grabbing one of the pre-filled hypodermics on one of the trays and injected the liquid directly into the tubing where an obvious blood clot was lodged. Gibbs watched with fascination as the clot practically disintegrated right in front of his eyes and the offending fluids immediately began flowing freely again down to the bag at the end that collected the fluids.

Typically the bag was drained at regular intervals by the nursing staff for days following a major injury or surgery like the one Tony had. Clot blockage was not a common occurrence the Doctor quickly explained. But she also had never treated a patient whom had just gone through a bout with an ancient disease like the plague so there was a part of her that couldn't help but wonder if this

"Good job Jake! Leta, prepare a hypo of 2.5 milligrams of Warfarin and get it ready to inject into his left pectoral muscle when I tell you to! "

Gibbs watched anxiously as the Doctor turned to read some of the machines monitoring his agent's vital signs, she shook her head in frustration over the readings while continuing to focus on the readouts.

"Okay, Leta proceed with the injection." the nurse immediately did as she was told, plunging the medication directly into Tony's chest, it was a medication that would further thin his blood and hence remove the risk of any more clots, Gibbs held off asking what they were doing, he knew the Doctor would fill him in once Tony was stable again.

Finally turning back towards Tony and her team the Doctor announced, "Okay let's move, we're still going to have to intubate. His carbon dioxide levels are still rising and his oxygen levels still dropping – he is starting to show signs of respiratory acidosis. Anna, I need you to administer 2 cc's of Succinylcholine and 1 cc of Anectine into his bicep muscle A.S.A.P.!"

"What's going on? Why is he still getting worse when the problem was clearly the blockage?" came Jake's shocked question.

"The only thing I can ascertain is that it's because this man has not fully recovered from a recent illness that damaged his lungs, I'm afraid his system is still just too weak to support breathing on his own on top of all the recent trauma – so let's help him out!"

"Jake hand me the blade."

She quickly explained to Gibbs what she was doing while she continued focusing on the task at hand. She gently pulled the now unconscious Tony's head back and using a long tube attached to something that acted like a vacuum – she proceeded to suction fluids from as far down in Tony's airway as the tube would allow.

"First we need to numb the airway before inserting the laryngoscopic blade that we use to open and light the airway, it better enables us to slide the breathing tube in."

Then she skillfully inserted the short metal blade, it wasn't a sharp blade like that of a sword, but rather it had smooth rounded edges that allowed it to slide with ease deep into the esophagus so the ridged endotracheal tubing would have an easier path to follow as it was inserted next.

Once she had successfully completed the intubation the motor inside the respirator began purring quietly as it pumped clean and pure oxygen into Tony's starved lungs. The next step was to insert a nasogastric tube for feeding since he wouldn't be able to eat through his mouth for at least a couple of days.

Moments later the entire room had been cleared of all evidence that there had even been a crisis in this very room. The only conscious people left there were the Doctor and Gibbs as they stood across from each other and relished in the fact that Tony was finally stable. Dr. Bianchi had filled Gibbs in on exactly what had happened and what they had done. She said she felt that as soon as Tony's O2 and Co2 levels were back where they needed to be, that he could finally be transferred from recovery to a room in ICU. She had high hopes that with Tony's younger age and strong and fit body, in spite of still being weak from the plague, that he would be fine and that she would probably be able to remove the ventilator in a day or two tops.

She took in the exhausted looking lead agent and agreed to allow him to stay with Tony until that time and agreed to allow the rest of the team in to visit their friend in ICU once he was settled in, although just two at a time. Before leaving she promised him that she would go directly to the waiting room to update the others. She could tell that this Agent Gibbs had a special relationship with the handsome man in the hospital bed, it was really almost Fatherly she thought, as far as how the older man looked as he watched, worried and pretty much stood guard over his younger friend.

Gibbs felt completely boneless as he dropped into the chair he had pulled back over towards his pale agent's bed. He ran one of his callused hands across his own tired face from top to bottom in an effort to get the blood recirculating in his face in an effore to hopefully help him refrain from falling asleep.

He felt completely drained after what he had just witnessed, not realizing that his adrenaline had spiked from the moment he first heard Tony gasping for breath - to seeing the dark red blood clot that he knew damn well could have gone straight to Tony's heart, brain or into one of his lungs instantly killing him. Feeling a strong sense of deja vu over the experience since the scene before him was all too similar to just a few weeks ago when he had to watch his agent's struggle to breathe from the damage he endured at the hands of a bio-terrorist who turned out to be an American Mother with a grudge.

He had to shake off the thought as he knew it always made his blood pressure rise. Thinking about how quickly Tony could have ended up on one of Ducky's tables had not only angered him, it frightened him to the core.

He leaned in closer to Tony, grabbed a tight hold of his IV free forearm and saying his first words to him since just before the breathing crisis.

"Tony you did good. You hear me? You are going to be fine and I won't have it any other way, ya got that?!" then he softened his voice, relaxed his tight grip on Tony's arm and leaned closer to his ear. "I am here with you and I'm not leaving. I **know** this ventilator is going to freak you out, I've been there! You won't be alone and I will explain what's going on the minute I see you open your nosy green eyes and start snooping around – okay?" with that he laughed at his own sarcastic humor, knowing how Tony enjoyed the very rare moments when his hardass boss relaxed enough to even make a joke.

He then sat back and lifted his feet so they were resting atop the shallow aluminum railing on the side of Tony's bed and started to allow his mind to focus on the case, he began to mentally formulate lists in his head of possible suspects to check out, Ari being at the top of the list. He decided on what tasks he would assign to Abby, Kate and McGee once they knew that Tony was stable enough to be left here for a while and after each of them had their initial visit. Gibbs also planned on telling the Director he wanted guards stationed outside Tony's door and that of every entrance and exit to the Hospital.

He decided to see if Ducky and Palmer could alternate staying inside Tony's room as an extra precaution but also to keep him constantly informed of his Senior Agent's condition. He hated not being able to stay there himself but he knew it was more important that he caught the bastard who started this whole nightmare in the first place!

Only an hour had passed when he thought he spotted movement in the hospital bed in front of him, dropping his feet back down he leaned forward so he now had a better view of Tony's face. His eyes remained closed as the purring ventilator continued making light clicking and pumping noises, a sound that had become almost comforting at this point. A low groan escaped from deep within Tony's throat as the lines on his forehead deepened into a frowning gesture while at the same time the fine lines surrounding his eyes scrunched tightly in unison with the frown – a clear sign that he was coming around but most likely because he was starting to feel severe pain once again.

Gibbs stood up and leaned even further over Tony's head, reaching for the call button just like before hoping to get someone in here to relieve his agent's pain. He then started to look around seeking any glimpse of a morphine pump since he knew that was something that seemed standard these days following a surgery.

He knew it was usually positioned somewhere within the patient's reach so they could press the button themselves whilst waiting for the nurses to arrive. Stretching his own body over across the top of Tony's prone form so he could check out the far side of the bed, his mind focusing on nothing else in the room other than helping out his suffering friend - Gibbs nearly lost his footing when he felt the unexpected pressure of someone else's fingers as they wrapped tightly around his wrist and squeezed.

_**To Be Continued . . . **_

_**See, I can end a chapter without leaving you with as bad of a cliffhanger as I usually leave you with! Please read and review and always and as always I thank you!!**_

_**Facts:**_

_**Warfarin: **Used for certain types of blood clots such as those in the veins, in the lungs, and in people with atrial fibrillation or artificial heart valves, can be treated and prevented with Warfarin. The drug also can be administered after certain surgeries to reduce the risk of death, repeat heart attacks, blood clots, or strokes._


	9. Agents In Jeopardy

**A/N - Sorry for delay in my updates, I wish I could get a better job so I had more time to write! But - get ready for a bit of a ride in this chapter! Fasten your seatbelts - I hope you like it!**

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death**__** –**_

He then started to look around seeking any glimpse of a morphine pump since he knew that was something that seemed standard these days following a surgery.

He knew it was usually positioned somewhere within the patient's reach so they could press the button themselves whilst waiting for the nurses to arrive. Stretching his own body over across the top of Tony's prone form so he could check out the far side of the bed, his mind focusing on nothing else in the room other than helping out his suffering friend - Gibbs nearly lost his footing when he felt the unexpected pressure of someone else's fingers as they wrapped tightly around his wrist and squeezed.

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**A Matter Of Life Or Death **

**Part VIII**

_**Bethesda Hospital . . .**_

Recovering fast enough to stop his forward momentum Gibbs pulled himself slightly back and almost upright as he allowed his eyes to move from the hand that now had a death grip on his wrist and quickly let his eyes move up the attached arm hoping to see who was halting his attempt to help Tony, his eyes widened in shock when he saw who owned the obtrusive hand.

"Why don't you just stop right there - Jeth-ro."

"ARI!"

Gibbs called the name out with obvious hatred but in a loud whisper so as not to disturb his resting agent. He quickly took in the attire that his most hated enemy was dressed in, Ari had donned a full set of scrubs in order to sneak around the large hospital unnoticed and unchecked.

Gibbs pulled his wrist free of Ari's loosened grasp, then hoisted himself back a few inches so he was in an upright position once again, he stood there glaring at the arrogant bastard in front of him. Too many thoughts were running through his mind as he thought of all the injuries and pain that this rogue Mossad operative had been personally responsible for. First his shooting of Ducky's assistant Gerald, then Gibbs' own bullet to the shoulder, and now Tony's life threatening wounds.

"How the hell did you get in here?"

"Ahhh patience Jethro, I didn't come here to discuss my talented abilities to gain access to – well pretty much wherever I want." he boasted.

Gibbs cast a quick glance at Tony, he was still unconscious but was showing signs that he was struggling to work his way through the tough hold of the heavy drugs still coursing through his veins. His eyes then darted back to Ari since he didn't trust taking his eyes off the unstable man for more than a couple of seconds.

"**What-do-you-want **Ari?"

"All in good time Agent Gibbs, all in good time. Right now I just wanted to make sure you understood my little uh . . . well, let's just say – _warning -_ for lack of a more creative word. If you don't want any more of your team to get hurt, I suggest you stop trying to dig up dirt on me so you can arrest me. You are treading in dangerous waters my friend."

You are the farthest thing from 'my friend' as you will ever be. Your arrogance will be what ultimately brings you down Ari – mark my words!" Gibbs retorted with a threat of his own.

Jethro's mind had still been moving a mile a minute while he secretly surveyed their surroundings and tried to figure out a way to nab Ari – but without causing a ruckus and possibly re-injuring Tony. He had also scanned Ari's body looking for any signs of a weapon. Gibbs finally started to slowly make his way toward the end of Tony's bed – talking the whole time trying to stall until he could get them further away from Tony and close enough for Gibbs to lunge at the evil man. Gibbs set forth purposely trying to ruffle Ari's cocky feathers enough to cause him to make a mistake.

"Ari, do you really think that my team and I would allow a few injuries to scare us into backing down? Hell our lives are always at risk - even on a **slow** day! Your plan is weak Haswari - just as _you _are." Gibbs baited.

Ari was smart enough to see through all of it since he was as good at being a criminal as Gibbs was at being an investigator, the two were definitely well matched as far as their going up against each other. He too swaggered slowly towards the end of his side of Tony's bed until finally he and Gibbs were facing each other toe to toe, though still about 4 feet apart.

"Mmmnn-mm." came a barely detectable and muffled groan, Gibbs glanced over to his right and was shocked to find himself staring back into the barely open dark, pain filled and glassy green eyes of his Senior Field Agent who was obviously disoriented and not fully aware of what was going on around him. Tony's eyes were only open at half mast as he struggled to work his way back to full alertness. He couldn't quite make out the figures at the end of his bed - he assumed one of them was Gibbs, and that the other one was . . . his Doctor?

Gibbs knew he had to make a move – fast! The last thing he wanted was to have his critically injured agent to wake up in the middle of yet another traumatic scene. Just as Gibbs began to move – he was completely taken aback when he heard a spraying sound and felt a heavy wet mist hitting his entire face. The very next thing he felt was immediate dizziness as he felt his legs give way beneath him causing him to slump down into a boneless heap onto the hospital room floor. From his prone position he unsuccessfully tried to move, but before succumbing completely into darkness, the last thing he could make out was the blurry appearance of Ari's sneaker clad feet as he ran from the room making his escape.

Tony had only just regained his ability to see - at least a _little_ more clearly - in time to witness the still shadowy figure of the man he had assumed was his Doctor, just as the man in blue suddenly reached forward and sprayed something directly into the other man's face. He suddenly felt extremely agitated and frustrated since his mind was still spinning from the heavy drugs in his system as well as the tremendous pain he was now feeling from seemingly everywhere on his body! He was in every sense still slightly out of it for the most part.

He could almost feel his adrenaline pumping as he groggily remembered that he had thought the other man may have been his boss. But it was at that moment, just as that memory kicked in, so did Tony's disheartening realization that he couldn't yell for help, or call out to his boss even if he wanted to, all because he had that hated ventilator tube stuck in his damn throat again!

_'He had to get help! Why wasn't his mind cooperating with him?_' Tony thought as he felt like his mind and body were moving through glue as he tried to think, and to move.

_'The call button!'_ he remembered victoriously!

But his victory was short lived as pain lanced through his entire torso worse than ever before. He wasn't aware of how much his blood pressure had risen or how much, thanks to his frantic movements, his body was now writhing from the increasing pain until he heard alarms going off around him coming from some of the machines that surrounded his bed. Tony sagged back against the mattress in exhausted and pain filled relief once he heard people finally rushing into his room.

_'Hell,'_ he thought, "_Who needs a call button?" _realizing that the alarms he had unknowingly set off, had worked even faster!

Tony's main physician had arrived only moments before, at the Nurses' station just outside Tony's room. She had been doing her rounds and had specifically allotted extra time on her busy rounds' schedule to check in on her most critical patients more frequently, one of them being one very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo in recovery room B-3.

But the sound of the alarms that seemed to be coming from that very direction, but that were also blaring in an equally annoying squeal from behind the Nurses' station where they had their own group of monitors for each of the rooms, Dr. Bianchi yelled to two of the nurses closest to her, to grab a crash cart just in case as they raced towards Tony's room.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N- PLEASE **_– _Let me know what you thought! I am done playing it safe with this story, even though I have obviously not played it safe when it comes to Tony's injuries, I wanted to push the envelope more and through Ari in faster than I originally planned to! I can't wait to see what you thought, I hope to update again by tomorrow since this chapter was shorter than my usual chappies. Maybe that's what I should do so you get updates MORE frequently – rather than one LONG one every month._


	10. The After Effects

**_A/N – Sorry this chapter is REALLY long. _**_I know that can be a good thing but even I think this one may be too long. I hope you enjoy and sorry if the story is moving slowly (I think it is ha). I also apologize for not updating in a while on all of my fics. I will try hard to make it up to all of you. Pls keep the reviews coming cuz they mean a LOT! Love you all._

_ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_ncis~ncis~ncis~

**_Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –_**

_Tony's main physician had arrived only moments before, at the Nurses' station just outside his room. She had been doing her rounds and had specifically allotted extra time on her busy rounds' schedule to check in on her most critical patients more frequently, one of them being one very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo in recovery room B-3._

_But the sound of the alarms that seemed to be coming from that very direction, but that were also blaring in an equally annoying squeal from behind the Nurses' station where they had their own group of monitors for each of the rooms, Dr. Bianchi yelled to two of the nurses closest to her, to grab a crash cart just in case as they raced towards Tony's room._

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**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part IX**

**_Bethesda Hospital – ICU Room B-3 . . ._**

Tony's weak body - now wracked in pain, fell limply onto his bed after having exerted all of what little energy he had been able to muster in his wasted efforts of trying to find the call button. Gone was the adrenaline surge that had overcome him from the sudden panic he felt when he first realized it was Gibbs whom had fallen and knowing that it was up to him to watch his bosses' six since no one else was around – '_I **have** to get help!'_ he had thought at that moment, 'W_hat if I am already too late?' _were the words that were haunting him as he tried to get his mind to forge through the cloudy veil that the drugs seemed to have coated his brain - and get his body to move regardless of all the various contraptions trapping him in place on the bed. Pain had been the last thing on his mind since the adrenaline had caused his endorphins to soar temporarily blocking his pain transmitters. Yet he still felt like he had failed having not been able to get to his mentor, his boss and the closest thing he had to a loving Father.

Dr. Bianchi entered the darkened room that was only being lit up by the red and blue lights flashing from the various monitors, as well as some of the lighting from the hallway as it filtered in through the closed curtains covering most of the all glass walls that each of the ICU rooms were lined with.

At first her eyes automatically went to check on her patient since she had assumed that he was in some kind of distress or crashing. But she was able to breathe in a sigh of relief upon seeing that his heart monitor was not showing any evidence that he was crashing – although beating much higher than it should be – it wasn't life threatening. Her head quickly turned when she then heard a low moan coming from the direction of the floor her eyes quickly diverted downward and the shock of seeing the handsome lead agent now laying unconscious on the linoleum floor nearly caused her to stumble.

"Grace – I need you to check on the patient!" she ordered one of the nurses as she herself rushed over and knelt down next to the man on the floor. She was surprised to see that it was her patient's boss - Agent Gibbs. He was just starting to move his head from side to side though moving very sluggishly as if trying to shake his mind free of something. She knew that he hadn't simply passed out or he would have already become fully conscious again only seconds after falling to the ground since usually fainting was usually resolved once the person was laid out flat hence allowing the blood flow within the body to stabilize. "Agent Gibbs? Agent Gibbs can you hear me?" she asked him as she gently pulled open one of his eyes and flashed her penlight into one of them, testing the reaction of his pupils, not happy with their sluggish response.

The agent moaned again lightly and started blinking as if coming back out of whatever trance he was in. She knew from looking in his eyes and from her years of experience, that the man seemed to have been drugged somehow. Then she noticed how wet her fingers felt after checking out his eyes, turning her penlight towards the rest of his face it was clear to her now that there appeared to be a light sheen covering his face, it was too dense to be sweat and almost looked like a mist of oily water had been sprayed onto the skin.

"Grace, report!" she hollered over to her lead nurse, demanding an update on the patient.

When Grace had arrived at their patient's bed side she found him struggling against not only the drugs that still threatened to pull him back into slumber land – but also physically fighting against her while attempting to sit up to get to his boss but getting frustrated with all of the cumbersome tubes and bulky ventilator that prevented his every move. Graces' eyes widened when she spotted the dark red blood that was now seeping through the gauze that covered his torso. He appeared to be bleeding again from two different places most like from either dislodged tubing, ripped out stitches – or both.

"Uh . . . Doctor he's bleeding a little in a couple of places and he's still fighting to get up and move. He probably wants to help his boss." she commented not realizing she had said it out loud.

"Okay, okay, administer 2 mgs of diazepam into his IV port stat, we have got to get him settled down before he does any more damage. **Oh** - and try to tell him his boss is going to be fine!"

"Is he Doctor?" Grace couldn't help asking. "Is he going to be okay?" But after seeing the look of anger coming from her superior, she realized she just wanted her to say that regardless of whether it was true, just to keep their primary patient from causing himself any further harm. She immediately did as she was told and while injecting the prescribed medication into his IV, she quietly whispered to the agent with the striking good looks, that his boss was going to be okay and that he needed to rest now so he could see him later.

Tony understood her words of comfort and relaxed. He would have like to have seen for himself how Gibbs was doing but knowing that was impossible, he had to take her for her word. Within less than a minute he was completely out once again as the sedatives took their hold causing his body to fall completely limp against the mattress.

Meanwhile on the floor , Gibbs blue eyes opened slightly and he started to blink rapidly as if to clear them while he struggled to get them to focus on the face in front of him, she smiled "Yes that's it Agent Gibbs, just take your time and try to remain still. I need to assess you further so we can figure out what happened to you." She explained sweetly.

"Ryan " the doctor yelled to the other nurse whom had entered the room with her – "I need you to bring me some cotton swabs and either a sealed vial to put them in, or a zip lock baggie – I don't care which just get me anything - STAT! We need to get these samples so I can wipe this from his skin immediately before it continues seeping into his system through the skin." Dr. Bianchi yelled to the male nurse waiting in the background near the thankfully abandoned crash cart.

Once he returned with the items she proceeded to gently swab some of the wet mist from the still only barely conscious agent's face as his blue eyes just stared at her while he kept trying to gather his senses and figure out what had happened. After sealing the samples up tightly she had Ryan rush them to the lab for full analysis and then proceeded to wipe away all of the ominous liquid so that his face was wiped clean.

Then after yelling out a few more orders to her anxious but well trained staff, they soon had a gurney wheeled in and she explained to Gibbs that they were going to just take him to an exam room to do a more thorough exam and see if there were any other detectable injuries besides having been drugged by most likely whatever liquid was on his face she concluded. Had Gibbs been alert enough and privy to her thoughts, he would have admired her own talented and quick investigative skills. The Doctor was stunned when she noted fear in the lead agent's eyes and she could tell he was trying to protest her wanting to move him elsewhere – she could see that was struggling with all his might just to be able to speak. It seemed that whatever had been done to him, or given him – may have paralyzed him somewhat including his ability to move his tongue and talk.

Gibbs felt like he was thrashing around and moving with all his might as he tried so hard to move to check on Tony. When that didn't seem to be working, he tried to at least speak so he could demand that he be examined HERE in Tony's room where he could make sure Ari wasn't coming back to finish the job. But even though he felt himself struggling physically – from the view of everyone else in the room his body was barely even flinching and his mouth remained firmly closed albeit twitching slightly like the rest of him. His brain was willing him to move and to speak yet his muscles didn't seem to be getting the signals. He felt rather trapped and he didn't like the feeling one bit.

The Doctor could tell without even checking, that his BP was rising as well as his heart rate. She knew the visible signs without needing the exact numbers and it didn't take her long to realize he was fighting to stay near his agent. Whatever had taken place in here had definitely not been good and she knew it meant that someone was still gunning for the agents for whatever reason. But without knowing what exactly had gone down – until she could get Gibbs to tell her – she was unable to take any action or get security involved because she not only had no description of any perpetrator – but she wasn't even sure if there was one. She just had too little information to go on.

"Okay it's alright Agent Gibbs, calm down I won't take you out of here. Okay can you hear me? Nod once if you can."

Then after seeing the barely detectable up and down motion of his head, she sighed in relief. "Okay good, now It's obvious something happened here and I can only assume that somehow, someone was able to gain access to this room and bring harm to you and Agent DiNozzo." She explained to him mainly to ease his mind by letting him know she was aware of the seriousness of the incident. 'Now I need you to try to relax and let me check you out some more, you have my word we will stay in this room at least until one of your other agents can be brought in here to guard your Agent DiNozzo." She smiled sweetly as she brushed back some of his now damp hair that had fallen onto his forehead.

Gibbs was nearly ecstatic when he found himself able to give her that small nod of understanding. Whatever Ari had sprayed on him seemed to be starting to wear off somewhat, '_it must have been a short term paralytic'_ he determined.

"Okay Grace, I need you to go page Doctor Otterman and get him in here to check on Mr. DiNozzo's surgical incisions and drainage tubes. Ryan, go into the waiting room and discreetly ask if one of them can come with you for a minute and just explain that it's nothing serious. No sense in alarming everyone until we know just what happened here." Ryan and Grace were gone in seconds.

Turning back to her newest patient, the doctor could see a little move movement going on, it did seem as though the drugs were not long acting which she was truly grateful for. Gibbs heard her yell the commands to her staff and fought hard to get his mouth to cooperate. He was rewarded this time when he was finally able to eek out his first words since the offensive spray first hit him. "Aa – age- nt . .D-noze . . . . . T–to-ny?"

"Oh." She whispered, finally understanding what he had just mumbled, "Yes Tony. Don't worry about him Agent Gibbs – really he's going to be just fine – I promise. It just looks as though he may have dislodged one of the drainage tubes and busted a couple of stitches. It's nothing that will cause him any harm, and none of which can't be easily rectified. Okay? Now let's get you checked out a little better because I am sure your team will be just as eager to hear that you are equally okay. First, I want to check your head to make sure you didn't hit it on the bed frame or the floor when you went down."

Gibbs finally allowed himself to lay back and let the Doctor do her job, his mind was satisfied and calmed by the fact that Ari hadn't gotten to Tony and that his agent was fine other than some minor damage caused by trying to help him. He didn't care as much about his own slight paralysis that was thankfully diminishing rather quickly and burning in his eyes - as he did about his team and especially his senior agent.

**_Waiting Room not far from ICU . . ._**

Nurse Ryan entered the quiet waiting room and knew immediately which group was with the Federal Agents since he spotted a small group of people that were looking through some manila folders and one of them seemed to have brought in a laptop to work from. All of their heads had immediately turned towards him as he came through the door and headed in their direction. It struck Ryan funny how they all stood up from their seats in complete unison, obviously eager to find out what news he brought with him.

"I assume you are the group that is here for Agent DiNozzo?" he asked.

"Yes, we are. What can you tell us? Is he still doing okay?" Kate was the first one to speak and answer him.

"Yes he is okay, I was just sent in here by his physician and your Agent Gibbs – they requested one of you to come back with me. It's nothing urgent, it's just something they requested and - I'm sorry I don't have any information other than that."

Kate, Ducky, McGee and Abby all looked back and forth at each other. Director Sheppard had left only moments earlier since she had so many important responsibilities that went with her title. As much as she wanted to stay, she couldn't afford the luxury of waiting with all of them in hopes to visit Tony. She assured them all that she would return in a couple of hours and that she would work something out to get some additional agents to help with the protection detail that would be needed to assure the team's safety until whomever was trying to kill one or all of them – was apprehended.

The remaining four were curious as to what may be behind their bosses surprise request, while also trying to determine who should go. It was decided that it should be Kate since she was next in line when Tony was out of commission and it was most likely something to do with the investigation that Gibbs wanted to see her about.

As soon as she and Ryan were in the hallway, Ryan had been told by Dr. Bianchi that he should at least forewarn whomever he brought back, alerting them to the fact that there had been a small incident that Agent Gibbs wanted to keep on the down low for now.

"Um, Miss?"

"Oh, just call me Kate." she told the nervous nurse.

"Okay, Kate – the Doctor wanted me to tell you before we arrive at Agent DiNozzo's room, that there has been a slight incident involving your boss and Mr. DiNozzo but both of them seem to be okay for the most part. Your boss is being checked out right now but he refused to leave your associate's room until one of you came in to keep an eye on things and protect him in case the intruder returns."

Kate immediately picked up her pace, walking so fast that the nurse had to job to catch up to her as she took off at a faster pace. "What exactly was the incident? You mentioned an intruder – we should have been alerted in time to seal off every exit to this entire hospital! This is completely against protocol. Just how badly was Agent Gibbs hurt? He would have known the proper protocol so I am left wondering why the hell no one ordered the security lock down! Gibbs would have had to have been unconscious not to have immediately ordered that . . ." it only took her three seconds to let her own words sink in. "Oh my God! Is he -?""

The nurse was speechless. He had not at all been prepared for the outburst and had no idea how to answer all of her rapid fire streak of questions. Meanwhile Kate felt as though she were back in the Secret Service where attempts were made on occasion, on not only the President's life – but other top officials – and this kind of haphazard way of handling an attempt on someone's life, would have been grounds for several people to be fired on the spot. She still struggled at times to get used to the much more . . . informal methods that Gibbs preferred to use when he was trying to capture a suspect.

The nurse finally stuttered through an answer as they arrived in the hallway near Tony's room. "Uhm, well M'aam I am sure the doctor can fill you in a lot better than I can and don't worry – Agent Gibbs is going to be okay from what I could tell. Here, let's get in there so you can be brought up to speed." He said as he gently directed her through the door to Tony's room.

He was quickly dismissed by Dr. Bianchi as she ordered him to go to the lab and await the results of the samples she took from Gibbs' face. When Kate walked in the first thing she noticed was her boss lying on a gurney, eyes open but still blinking frequently as if trying to clear his head but he still looked very out of it and slightly dazed.. A female nurse had just finished taking some of his blood and unbeknown to Kate – it was taken so they could get it to the lab and see what showed up in his system since the doctor was thoroughly convinced based on his symptoms and reactions, that he was indeed drugged with something.

"Doctor, what happened here? If I were to venture a guess it looks to me like someone attacked Agent Gibbs and that no one alerted the hospital security to seal off the exits which is what should have happened. Can you shed some light on that for me?" she asked in her most demanding tone of voice.

"Now hold on Miss . . .?"

"Kate is fine."

"Kate – By the time we even knew something had happened in here there was just no time to waste and I guarantee the person was long gone. My first priority was taking care of these two men whom were both in tough shape when I arrived. It appears as though something may have been sprayed into your bosses' face – some kind of drug that dropped him immediately from what I can gather and your other friend here was trying to play hero and ended up aggravating his surgical incisions among other things."

"KATE! D-donn't . . . be – so . . hard . . . on Dct'r hee-re." Gibbs finally surprised both women by interrupting as he finally had gained even more control of his body and vocal cords as the drugs in his system further dissipated.

"Gibbs! You shouldn't talk, don't push yourself until we know what is wrong with you and what kind of drugs are in your system. " Kate begged him, worried by the pale tone to his skin and his pupils that were clearly dilated from whatever was in his system.

"No - m'fine . . . I know who – did this K't . . . it was . . . **Ari**." He said this while attempting to pull himself upright while at the same time looking over towards Tony's bed to check on his agent.

"WHAT? That arrogant bastard! Leave it to him to just waltz into a major medical facility and then simply waltz back out!" Kate complained - she was fuming! "Gibbs what are you doing, you need to stay still!"

"Doc . . . how's Tony?" Gibbs completely ignored Kate's request. "He looks . . . like hell."

"Whoa slow down, you are not going anywhere just yet." The doctor warned him as she gently pushed his shoulders down so he was lying back against the pillow again. "He's fine Agent Gibbs and I hope you have learned by now that I am a straight shooter, I would not tell you he was okay unless I meant it. Dr. Otterman is on his way to just mend a few busted stitches and check him out further. He's asleep right now. We had to sedate him because he kept trying to get up to help you. You two are one and the same I swear - both stubborn and obviously unaware of your own limitations!" she teased.

"Well we are . . . what- we- are I guess." Gibbs stated flatly – worry lines still etched deeply in his forehead. Turning to Kate he switched back to leader of the team as he started to feel more and more in control of his speech and knew the drugs were wearing off, "Kate, I need you to get an updated BOLO out on Ari – so . . . f-ffirst I need you to create a new ss-sketch of him - his hair is longer n-now . . . it's a couple of inches-ss above his sh-shoulders." He was still slightly slurring a word now and then and he felt tired and sluggish in his movements as well. He was relieved to notice the effects were continuing to disappear quickly but was still frustrated because it still wasn't fast enough for his increasing impatience.

"He also has-ss more of a five o'clock shadow g-going on than he did before – he looks . . . scruffier."

Just then Dr. Otterman finally arrived and walked quickly over to Tony's bedside. He began to assess the patient while Dr. Bianchi moved next to him leaving Gibbs to talk to his agent in private. She quietly explained what damage Tony had done while trying to rescue his boss.

"Okay Gibbs, what else do you need us to do?" Kate asked, " You really should listen to the doctor here and rest. Tony is going to need you and you won't be any good to him if you have a set back later." The motherly side of Kate came out all the while knowing he would never heed her advice.

"Kate – **sketch** then **BOLO**. Got it?"

"Got it." She replied feeling defeated. She couldn't help looking over towards Tony, watching the doctors faces for a second and trying to see if she could detect any looks of concern or signs of any new problems. Her focus was brought abruptly back to her bosses' direction when he yelled out a warning, "You waiting for a written invitation Agent Todd? Or - until Ari gets completely out of the Country?"

"Oh, sorry Gibbs. Oh, and what should I tell the others?"

"Aww dammit! I forgot about them. Well, they need to know, Ari's after all of us now so – everyone needs to be on full alert at all times and I will talk to the Director about adding some extra security and protection. Oh, and send Ducky back here."

With that Kate disappeared out into the hallway to follow through on her instructions.

Gibbs was starting to feel more and more clear headed, he immediately turned his attention towards his agent's bed where the two doctor's were still busy repositioning his ventilator and other various tubes, then peeling back gauze to check on sutures and surgical staples so they could determine what kind of repairs would be needed.

"How does he look?" Gibbs finally asked.

Dr. Otterman answered, "Not too much worse for wear actually. I will just need to re-suture a couple of areas and we will clean him up and re-bandage everything. We need to take extra precautions to ensure that no germs get into his wounds in order to prevent infection from setting in since he is going to be more susceptible while his body adapts to no longer having a spleen. And how are you feeling?"

"Oh, no need to be concerned about me, I am fine – getting better by the minute." He said as he sat up on the gurney and slowly swung his feet over the side. Just then Ducky entered the ICU room looking very much in a hurry after obviously having been told by Kate just what had happened in this very room only 40 minutes prior. "Jethro, I came as soon as I could. Now what happened here exactly?"

Dr. Mallard was evaluating every inch of his long time friend's face while speaking, hoping to see for himself just how the man was doing. "Actually Dr. Mallard, I am glad you are here – perhaps you can persuade Agent Gibbs here to allow us to admit him just for observation." Dr. Bianchi pleaded while she moved over next to the gurney. Gibbs answered before Ducky could even open his mouth to speak.

"Save your breath – all of you! I'll be damned if I am going to lie around here - or anywhere for that matter, while my team is in danger. In case you have forgotten, we have a killer out there still on the loose and his only goal at the moment is to wreak havoc on my team just to torture me." With that he carefully slid off of the gurney, paying no attention to the strong hand that now gripped his elbow as Ducky reached out to help steady him on his feet.

"Doctor, I trust you will make sure that my Forensic Scientist, Abby Sciuto, gets a sample of whatever concoction that was sprayed in my face? Once you have that just let me know if there are any other side effects that I might need to watch out for."

"Well now Jethro - while whatever it was does seem to have only affected you for a very short period of time - you know as well as I so that Ari would not hesitate to throw you a curve ball by also adding some kind of slow acting poison. You really should be under observation." Ducky warned him mainly out of concern for his friend's well being.

"Yeah Duck, well we could "what if" all day long. I refuse to worry about something until I have a concrete reason to. Right now, we have a case, I have an agent in ICU and I have a wanted criminal on the loose so – if you two will excuse me, I need to go talk to the team while DiNozzo's going to be out for at least another hour or two." He then left the room, leaving all three doctor's staring at each other in obvious frustration.

Once Gibbs left, the doctors and staff made quick work of getting Tony's broken stitches repaired and within an hour he was all cleaned up and re-bandaged. Looking at him now one would never know there had been any commotion at all not that long ago. All the while he was being tended to, Tony had remained asleep largely due to the effects of the earlier sedatives - combined with morphine and his body's own struggle to heal itself.

**To Be Continued . . .**

**_NOTE:_**_ I did so a **little** research re: some of the medical info in this chapter – so please don't correct anything that you think is NOT factual because it worked for the story and I didn't take any huge liberties or say anything that doesn't sound realistic. thanks! _

**_Possible drugs included in the spray Ari used_**_: neuroleptics haloperidol and chlorpromazine meprobamate (Miltown), chlordiazepoxide (Librium), Rohypnol – many of which depress the central nervous system. The Dr. and Abby will provide this specific info in the next chapter_

**_As for Gibbs reaction to the drugs: _**_My description of how he felt when temporarily paralyzed by the drugs - well unfortunately this** is** factual. I** pulled this from my own personal experience **since a few years back I had become the unwilling victim of a similar paralytic kind of drug similar to (if not THE) "**date rape drug**". Lucky for me, a pregnant friend at the party had witnessed the creepy guy all over me in the corner of the living room or somewhere (I don't recall that part at all) but she thankfully and quickly alerted my friends. I later did recall a little bit of that part though – mainly him trying to kiss me and such and he even had admitted he put something in my drink after I said I was feeling unusually dizzy. Anyhoo - I better not see any reviews saying that I didn't describe the drugged Gibbs scene right. Ha _


	11. Time To Take Action

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_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –**_

_Once Gibbs left, the doctors and staff made quick work of getting Tony's broken stitches repaired and within an hour he was all cleaned up and re-bandaged. Looking at him now one would never know there had been any commotion at all not that long ago. All the while he was being tended to, Tony had remained asleep largely due to the effects of the earlier sedatives - combined with morphine and his body's own struggle to heal itself_.

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**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part X**

_**Hospital Waiting Room At Bethesda . . .**_

Kate made quick work of telling everyone about the incident in Tony's room involving Ari. Everyone looked at her in complete shock as they tried to absorb what she was saying, while at the same they were all immediately concerned about how Gibbs and Tony were both doing and knew they had to get that protection detail set up before doing anything else. She informed Abby that they might need her help with confirming what was in the substance found on their bosses' face. Abby agreed to do whatever was needed in order to help as she pushed back the tears and worries that were attempting to dull her usual confidence and bravado – instead she made a decision to force herself to turn those emotions around so they actually _fueled_ her with a bold determination instead.

"Just point me toward the main hospital lab Kate and I'll take it from there!" Abby fiercely stated before leaving the room in the direction Kate had suggested.

"Kate, what do you need me to do?" McGee asked the second she finished conveying the details of the bold way that Ari had accomplished his mission – a mission meant only to intimidate them and nothing more.

_**Tony's Room in ICU . . .**_

Gibbs had been able to convince the medical staff that he was not in need of further rest or worse yet, being admitted as a patient himself. He did agree to let them check all of his vital signs from blood pressure to more blood samples with the promise to repeat those tasks in 2 hours time, just to make sure nothing was showing up that had some kind of delayed onset or bizarre aftereffects. Gibbs knew he would be fine since he felt 100% back to normal and didn't feel _**any**_ lasting effects of the drugged spray whatsoever. In fact, he felt as though nothing had been done to him at all but then again nothing surprised him where Ari was concerned.

While Kate and the others were already busy organizing protection and making arrangements to get everyone on the lookout for Ari - Tony remained unconscious for a few more hours with Gibbs a constant presence at his bedside, determined to be the first person Tony saw when he woke up again and knowing full well that he would most likely be disoriented once again and possibly even panicked if like he had done upon awakening in recovery, or worst if he remembered the attack on Gibbs' then he would surely awaken in panic, a feeling Gibbs knew all too well from his own past experiences waking up in hospitals.

While he waited for Tony to come around again he had an occasional pang of guilt for not being out there helping Kate brief the rest of the team and making all of the other arrangements, he had more than enough confidence that they could do the job just fine without him there to babysit or bark out orders. So he finally relaxed and sat back in the chair near Tony's bed to continue his watch over his most senior agent.

One thought kept that just kept nagging at him, preventing him from fully resting - he couldn't help but think about how easy it would have been for Ari to have just killed Tony on the spot after incapacitating Gibbs with that paralytic spray. That thought alone made him more determined than ever to not allow anything or anyone to pull him away from watching Tony's six while he fought his way through the hardest part of his recovery. He would be ready for Ari next time – and if needed, he would kill him.

_**Waiting Room / Temporary Bullpen . . .**_

Abby had left the waiting room that was now assigned the dual label of impromptu command station – she headed towards the hospital lab after getting special permission from Dr. Bianchi to work with her own lab staff on determining what the drug spray that was used on Gibbs consisted of. The physician was well aware of how critical it was that they do whatever necessary to help the NCIS team maintain their usual case protocols which included documenting everything to the letter as long as it was found to be connected in some way to the case they had now nicknamed "Stop Ari".

McGee had gone off to get started on a list of numerous urgent calls that had to be made ASAP – such as upping security at the hospital as well as on each member of the team whenever they were separated from one another.

Kate knew that the first thing on her task list had to be the phone call to alert their Director to the latest turn of events. She had to call Director Shepard.

She knew that Jenny would be livid if she wasn't informed immediately about Ari's unauthorized 'visit' and his attack on Gibbs as well as his threats on the rest of the team. Kate smiled briefly as she was dialing - thinking that no matter how hard the Director and Agent Gibbs tried to pretend that they disagreed on nearly every subject and that there were no feelings left between them – Kate and anyone else with half a brain could easily see that quite the opposite was true. Only Gibbs and Jenny themselves seemed to remain oblivious to their obvious renewed chemistry and mutual attraction . . . or in denial perhaps was a better term.

"Director Shepard, it's Kate."

"Yes Kate, what's wrong? I know you wouldn't be calling me unless something was wrong so what's going on?" Jenny asked, hoping that the fear she was suddenly feeling that was causing her gut to churn - wasn't coming through in her voice.

"It's Ari again. He's back. He showed up at the hospital and somehow made it into Tony's room in ICU where he attacked Gibbs by spraying some kind of drugged concoction into his face. He's okay now Director – and Tony is okay now as well."

Jenny released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding during Kate's entire impromptu debriefing. "Oh my God? How the hell did he get i**n **there?" She finally hollered into the wireless earpiece of her cell phone. "And what do you mean Tony is okay _**now**_? Did Ari attack him too?"

"No, no Tony wasn't touched at all by Ari – only Gibbs. But Tony had woken up right before this happened and tried to get up to help Gibbs. He just pulled some stitches, they think he was trying to get up to reach for the call button to bring someone in there to help. Trust me Director – they are both fine now I assure you." Kate promised.

"I'll be right there Kate! I was just picking someone up at the airport, I will head over to the hospital! I assume you already took care of ordering extra security patrol – including outside the door to Tony's room?"

"Yes Director that was the first thing we took care of. Just please be careful and get here in one piece, we have things under control for the moment and we don't need anyone else getting hurt." Kate pleaded, in the back of her mind she knew that Ari could very well go after the Director just as well as anyone else. _Especially_ - if Ari had _**any**_ knowledge whatsoever of the brief affair that occurred between Gibbs and the stunning Director all those years ago.

_**Meanwhile Back In Tony's Room . . .**_

This time it was one of Tony's surgeon's, Doctor Otterman, who came in to check on _both_ of the men in ICU cubicle B-3. He had been asked by his associate Dr. Bianchi who was on her first break in over 18 hours, to just give the lead Agent Gibbs a quick once over to make sure no further ill effects were showing up from the drug he had been attacked with. After finding Gibbs eyes clear and his vital signs perfectly within the normal ranges, he then proceeded to examine his primary patient Agent DiNozzo.

Once finished he turned and explained to Gibbs that while Tony was holding his own and progressing quite well, he was still relying more on the ventilator than the doctor would have liked which according to the experienced physician meant a couple of things could be happening. One being that the fluid was obviously still building up in his lungs and therefore Tony was still in need of the of the drainage tubes working together in combination with the ventilator to keep his lungs clear and in working condition until Tony's body was at a stronger place and better able to take over the task on his own, and the second being that his lungs were already too weakened well before the explosion had even occurred due to the after effects of the plague he had nowhere near recovered from, but then worsened by the overall trauma to the man's body as he endured the harsh explosion from far too close a proximity.

Since there was no way to ascertain which of these were causing his lungs to take longer than normal to heal, it was clear that he was going to require breathing assistance for just a while longer to Gibbs disappointment. He knew that was the one thing he had hoped to be able to do before Tony came around again – was to get them to remove the vent so Tony wouldn't have to keep waking up to the grotesque feeling of having that tube shoved down his raw throat causing his throat even more irritation the longer it remained. Gibbs had to force himself to shake off the memory of having a similar tube in his own throat more than once before, one of which was from injuries received while fighting for his Country.

But the Doctor assured his patient's caring commander that his agent was progressing on schedule where every other injury and incision was concerned. He also informed Gibbs that Tony was actually doing much better than he had expected given all that the younger man had been through over the past few weeks. He then promised that once the tubes were draining a lower volume and the fluid had become clearer in color – and when Tony was able to breathe completely without the assist of the vent, _then_ it could be removed and he would then be well on his way to recovering from his injuries.

"Thank you Doctor, even though he still has a ways to go, I know you had a lot to do with him even making it this far so, thank you for all you have done for my agent." Gibbs said as he stood to offer the Doctor a firm handshake to show his sincere appreciation but as the man got closer to the door Gibbs remembered one more thing he forgot to ask about.

"Sorry to keep you but I do have one more question if I may Doc?" Gibbs asked, knowing the man had other patients to see. "I thought someone said that Dr. Pitt was coming in to assist or to help re-evaluate the damage and condition of Tony's lungs – did that plan change? I haven't seen him."

"Oh, my apologies Agent Gibbs, I thought that Dr. Bianchi informed you that he is still coming but he had an emergency surgery that only he could perform since the patient's lungs were in even worse shape than your agent's. I do believe he was planning to come by after he rested up a bit – it ended up being a very long surgery."

With that Gibbs thanked him again and went back to his seat to resume his diligent wait for Tony to wake up again.

A lump formed in Gibbs throat as he stared at Tony's pale, drawn face – catching him off guard since he hadn't expected to be so emotional over this. He had seen Tony go through this kind of fight before just a couple of months ago – he didn't get this choked up _then_ so he wasn't sure what was causing it _now_.

Reaching forward he moved a few stray strands of hair that were slightly damp from a low grade fever his agent still seemed to have, pushing them back up and smoothing them down fully aware of Tony's admittedly vain demeanor. He could almost hear Tony asking him if his hair looked good – already wanting to make sure he looked good for any pending visitor's. He let out a light but rare chuckle at the absurdity of the thought when suddenly his focus was pulled back to Tony's face when he swore he saw the twitching of one his well coiffed eyebrows.

"Tony? Tony can you hear me?"

His question was followed by more twitching but now moving to other parts of Tony's face, first his nose wiggled slightly, then his eyelids were forming a bit of a squint without fully opening. But within just seconds Gibbs was able to take in a much needed deep breath when he was finally granted a welcome glimmer of the green pupils that had lain hidden beneath closed lids for so many hours.

He had not even noticed how long he had been holding his breath in anxious anticipation, not knowing if Tony's latest awakening would once again be with panic and uncertainty darkening his eyes – or if this time his awakening would be of a more peaceful nature.

"Yeah that's it Tony. Now keep those eyes open for me can ya do that? Listen to me, you are still in the hospital, but you are going to be okay. I just you to stay still – if you understand me – blink once."

This time to Gibbs' tremendous relief Tony's awakening had been much more quiet and calm without the drama his earlier awakening had been accompanied by. He wasn't waking up in a panic over not being able to breathe and he wasn't waking up to a terrorist attacking his boss. This time it was actually peaceful.

Gibbs pressed the call button to alert the staff that Tony had regained consciousness again. Upon hearing the door open he turned around ready to move out of their way so they could check Tony over but to his surprise it wasn't the Doctor or any nurses who stood at the doorway – it was Director Jenny Shepard.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_


	12. Tony's Surrogate Parents?

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_**Previously on: A Matter Of Life & Death –**_

_"Yeah that's it Tony. Now keep those eyes open for me can ya do that? Listen to me, you are still in the hospital, but you are going to be okay. I just you to stay still – if you understand me – blink once."_

_This time to Gibbs' tremendous relief - Tony's awakening had been much more peaceful and calm. He wasn't waking up in a panic over not being able to breathe and he wasn't waking up to a terrorist attacking his boss. This time it was actually peaceful._

_Gibbs pressed the call button to alert the staff that Tony had regained consciousness again. Upon hearing the door open he turned around ready to move out of their way so they could check Tony over but to his surprise it wasn't the Doctor or any nurses who stood at the doorway – it was Director Jenny Shepard._

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**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XI**

_**Tony's ICU Room At Bethesda Medical Center . . .**_

"Jenn- uh Director?" Gibbs was caught off guard by her presence since last he had heard she had too many places to be and wasn't coming here until she was finished with some mandatory tasks. "What are you doing here, is something going on?"

"Well Jethro I was hoping that_ you_ could tell me that. How's Tony?" she softened her tone as she drew closer to Gibbs side to take a look at her favorite agent – second to Gibbs of course. When she approached his bedside Tony's eyes, which had closed again for just a few seconds - slowly opened again after a few slow blinks.

"Oh my gosh Tony - you're **awake**!"

But before she could say anything more she felt Gibbs hand on her upper arm as he gently pulled her away from the bed a couple of feet, until he knew they were out of Tony's limited line of sight.

"Jen hold on." he whispered close to her ear, "Give him a second to get his damn bearings - he only just woke up before you came in here."

She looked directly at him, raising up one of her eyebrows, clearly not pleased with the demanding tone he was using - even while whispering. Gibbs caught the telling look and purposely softened his tone.

"Look, I was expecting the Doctor when you came in so you caught me off guard. Now we can talk later, right now the only thing we should be doing - is making sure he's okay." she softened her own eyes again nodded in understanding and before they could say anything more they were distracted when they heard the sliding glass door to the ICU room being opened, turning their heads at the exact same time they saw a nurse coming into the room.

"Is there a problem in here Agent Gibbs?" he recognized nurse Anna from earlier walking towards him. "Or is he starting to come around again?" she asked proficiently. Before she created a ruckus by alerting the physician it was her job to make sure the call button wasn't hit accidentally or perhaps just in need of something minor. She couldn't count how many times nervous members of a patient's family would overuse the button simply to ask a mindless question. It happened more often than the nursing staff cared to admit – and it drove them crazy! To Anna's relief she found Gibbs to have a legitimate reason for calling someone in. Gibbs responded quickly so as not to waste any time.

"He's awake." then looking towards Tony he noticed his agent's eyes had slipped closed again, ". . . well, he _was_."

"Great - that's good news, I'll page the doctor. Oh and don't worry - it's normal for a near critical patient coming out of recovery from surgery and anesthesia to drift in and out of consciousness for a bit. I'll be back in a couple of minutes" she said as she quickly exited the room.

Both Gibbs and the Director exhaled sighs of relief knowing that so far Tony seemed to be doing okay and holding his own for the most part. Jenny decided to take advantage of their relief and their Senior Agent being asleep again, keeping her voice down she picked up where the conversation left off.

"No Jethro – we'll talk **now**! Seriously – I heard what happened with Ari and from what I was told, YOU should be in a bed your**self**!" she suddenly turned on the bossy supervisor attitude that he hated so much.

"Well what you heard is obviously not accurate, **J-**enny." his tone of voice had a bit of an edge to it, putting extra emphasis on the J in her name for effect. She knew when he said her name like that he was in one of his moods.

"Okay then, care to tell me what _did _happen and why I shouldn't order you to succumb to being admitted for more tests and observation? Or could you at least fill me in on what DID happen so that my understanding is more . . . _accurate_ as you put it?" she said cynically - her red lips turning up on one side in a half smile, half smirk.

"Don't patronize me - Di-**rector**." his tone still sharp, "I've got a critical agent here who nearly killed himself trying to cover my six - when _I'm_ the one who should have been watching _**his**_! So I am_**not**_ in the mood to have a pissing match with you right now!" his nose was now inches from her own, his cool blue eyes drilling into her soft green ones.

Jenny's face softened once again, conceding, "Alright fine . . . it won't happen again. But really Jethro, all bullshit aside what do you need from me? I've already been debriefed by Kate and McGee and I have ordered additional security which should be already in place as we speak. I have someone in mind that I trust more than anyone to cover Tony's room but for now it will just be one of our top security officers. If Ari is stupid enough to come back here – he won't get anywhere near Tony – or you for that matter!"

Gibbs listened patiently, glad they were moving off of the subject of his health, and back to what really mattered – stopping Ari at all costs, even if it resulted in his death which Gibbs silently preferred.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. But know this Jen-"

Before he could complete the sentence they were interrupted by the sound of the sliding door as it was opened once gain. Both of their heads turned to see a female physician entering the room.

"Well, I understand our patient has decided to come out of his beauty sleep and honor us with his presence again." Dr. Bianchi teased while looking only at her patient and no one else. Then seeing Gibbs out of her peripheral vision she turned towards him walking the 2-3 feet until she stood closer to the duo.

Reaching out her hand to Jenny she introduced herself, "Doctor Abriana Bianchi, I am Tony's main physician. Are you another uh - '_relative_'?" she asked, honestly thinking that this woman just may be an actual relative rather than just another over protective co-worker. She was attractive enough and possessed similar, perfect features just like her patient. She secretly hoped the woman was not however, the significant other of the suave Agent Gibbs.

Gibbs spoke before Jenny could, "Dr. Bianchi, I'd like you to meet NCIS Director Jenny Shepard." Jenny reached out her hand to shake the doctor's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Director Shepard." the doctor replied while shaking her hand back. She felt almost giddy at learning that she was a peer of Agent Gibbs and remained hopeful that it was nothing more. "The pleasure's all mine." Jenny responded. "Thank you for everything you have done to take care of our agent and get him back on his feet. We need him."she added.

The doctor smiled and turned around she headed towards Tony's bedside while directing her next question to Gibbs without looking at him, "So how long was our patient awake and how coherent did he seem?" she wasted no time getting down to business, now that the pleasantries were out of the way. She immediately began processing the readings on the attached machines before looking back down at Tony and starting to check his vent, then looking back to read his oxygen levels and see if he was finally breathing enough on his own to where she could remove it.

Gibbs and Jenny moved back closer to the bed, standing on the opposite side. Jenny went ahead of Gibbs to stand closer to the head of the bed, reaching out and placing her hand lightly on Tony's shoulder. Tony's eyes were still closed so she just waited and listened to Gibbs as he brought the doctor up to speed.

Jenny found herself lost in her own thoughts as the natural detective inside her started to silently profile the pretty doctor. Looking at her a little more closely Jenny realized that 'pretty' was putting it lightly, the term beautiful was a more accurate description, the woman looked as if she had walked straight off of a movie screen causing a twinge of jealousy to course through her and worsened when she realized the elegant doctor had no wedding ring on her hand. '_Perhaps she just takes it off when she is working so as not to scratch a patient' _she justified, knowing that probably wasn't the case. She decided to just focus on Tony but soon found it harder and harder to do as she watched the way the doctor's eyes lit up when she was talking to Gibbs. '_Alright Jenny just calm down, you're being ridiculous_.' she reprimanded herself.

"Not very long . . . 'bout five minutes? Maybe less." Gibbs explained

"That's fine, did he seem disoriented this time or did he recognize you?"

"Maybe at first but . . . seemed to recognize me faster this time. He also wasn't in_ as much_ pain as he was last time he woke up, but I'm not saying he still wasn't still suffering." he added.

The doctor was impressed at the detail he was giving her, but she found it to be typical of someone with military training, they always paid attention to every detail.

"Thank you Jethro. You're very observant." the doctor complimented him. Jenny certainly didn't miss the easy way she had converted to a first name basis and almost seemed to be flirting with the lead agent.

"Well as far as his pain goes, the good news is – I can increase his pain meds again now that he's more coherent and it's obvious the anesthesia is almost out of his system by now. But I'm going to change the type of pain medication to one that won't cause as severe drowsiness because now that he's coming around, I'd like to keep him that way for the most part because I still need to evaluate him further – mainly concerning his head injury which still needs to be monitored closely. Even though I respect him as a talented physician and surgeon, Dr. Otterman and I do not see eye to eye when it comes to determining when to remove a patient's breathing tube. He believes the patient's readings need to indicate over 96% full lung capacity and O2 levels – meaning without relying on the assistance of the ventilator. But unlike him, I believe it's best to remove the tube even if the readings are hovering around 80% of independent breathing and oxygen levels."

Jenny was half listening while still trying to find any flaws in the woman. Gibbs listened closely, he liked the way the woman did what she believed in - regardless of whether others agreed with her actions or not. It was very similar to his _own_ way of thinking.

"In my opinion and experience, I believe that after a certain point, usually just over 80% full lung capacity, patient's lungs can actually get lazy and start to actually rely on the vent more than they really need to. Luckily for Tony, his former physician Dr. Pitt follows my same line of thinking – I consulted with him about twenty minutes ago."

"Speaking of him, where the hell is he?" Gibbs interrupted, his patience once again starting to wear thin.

"Oh, he's still coming Agent Gibbs, he said he's still about 30 minutes out. I called him to consult with him so that if Tony awakened before he arrived then – if Dr. Pitt agreed – then I could remove Tony's tube without making him wait, that is, IF the readings and his O2 levels were where we need them to be."

"Well are they? Can you remove it?" Gibbs eagerness was apparent.

"Yes, I think it's safe to say that we can. Given that your agent is young and strong I think he will do fine on his own regardless of the damage from his recent bout with the plague – if anything it can always be put back in if absolutely necessary or if he should experience any setbacks."

Gibbs felt immense relief and satisfaction as he overheard her news. That was a definite sign of improvement which was a step in the right direction as far as Tony working his way back to good health.

Meanwhile Jenny, still distracted by the woman she looked at as some kind of threat or rather -competition, taking advantage of the fact that the doctor's eyes were focused only on Gibbs while they discussed the state of Tony's fragile lungs – Jenny took full advantage of the distraction and used it to check out the doctor's physique, subtly looking her up, and down for the first time. She secretly hoped to find a lumpy, unshapely and overweight body covered badly with an ill fitting white doctor's coat, but of course to her own dismay the doctor seemed to keep herself in very good and very thin shape. Adding to her misery was the fact that the breathtaking physician looked to be about 5 foot 8 inches tall which was at least 3 inches taller than Jenny was herself.

"_Goodness gracious what are you doing Jenny? _She thought to herself_, 'Obsessing over another woman while standing over your badly injured and favorite agent. Get it together!' _then forcing her mind off of the torturing thoughts she looked back down at Tony, taking time to really evaluate his appearance for the first time.

The doctor was oblivious to Jenny's inspection and knowing she still had a lot of other patients to check on, she continued to move things along.

"So since his other vitals are also looking much better so with your permission I'd like to wake him again so we can get the breathing tube out and I can give him a more thorough exam."

Gibbs answer came quick, "Doctor you have my permission to do anything you deem necessary to help my agent recover and get back on his feet. You don't need to check with me for anything, I trust your judgment and your expertise." he assured her, not wanting _anything_ to delay Tony's treatment especially if the Doctor had to send someone to find Gibbs should be checking on the team's progress on the case or be detained for any other reason. Then to his surprise Gibbs watched as Jenny stepped back and moved to stand toward at the end of Tony's bed but before doing that she had gently prodded Gibbs, manually moving him so that he had assumed her vacant position closer to the head of his senior agent's bed.

Knowing Gibbs would wonder what she was going, she explained. "Look Jethro, I don't know that I can handle being so close if she does end up removing his tube, I also think you are the one he needs to see when he first wakes up – he draws strength from you whether you think so or not."

Gibbs knew she was lying about not being able to handle the tube extraction in fact, he couldn't name one thing that made Jenny Shepard go weak in the knees – well except when he did certain more intimate 'things' to her when they were sleeping together while undercover in Paris. He shook the thoughts from his head, now was not the time!

Once Dr. Bianchi had his blessing she wasted no time in getting ready to wake up her patient. Leaning a little closer to his face she started lightly tapping his cheek with her latex glove covered hand, hoping to prod him to awaken.

"Okay Agent DiNozzo, nap time is over and I need you to wake up now." she waited, then after seeing no signs of consciousness she tried again, this time using his first name to see if he responded better to that, "Tony. Come on now, let's see those pretty eyes of yours." When they were greeted with silence and a still unmoving agent Gibbs took action, knowing that he could get Tony to follow an order unlike the doctor's failed attempt. Without even thinking it through Gibbs bellowed.

"DiNozzo!"

They all watched in helpless horror, as Tony's eyes shot open and he instinctively sat almost straight up as if caught merely sleeping at his desk rather than a hospital's bed in ICU. Thankfully all of the tubing and other contraptions attached to his battered body kept him from rising more than about 6-8 inches, but the shout of pain that was produced by the unnerving action was louder than any of them expected a groggy, critical and weak man to even be able to emit.

A stab of a different kind of pain shot through Gibbs gut as he realized what he had just done, and in doing so causing his surrogate Son additional agony. His mind attempted to rationalize the idiotic action; maybe he wasn't thinking clearly due to his fatigue, his own injury and subsequent blood loss – or perhaps remnants of the drugs he had been sprayed with were still in his system? He had no idea what caused him to do something so stupid. If it wouldn't have caused the doctor to reconsider admitting him, he would have given himself a head slap to end all head slaps – in return for causing his agent such painful distress.

All three of them, Dr. Bianchi, Gibbs and Jenny leaped into action pressing Tony's body as carefully as they could, back down to a prone position while Tony held his eyes squeezed tightly shut and held his breath, afraid that the simple action of breathing would cause a repeat of that intense unimaginable pain by causing the expansion of his chest. Jenny cursed herself for being so petty as to let her own jealousy and competitive nature, take her focus off of where it really needed to be – on Tony.

Tony's mind was racing - confused and overloaded - too much going on at once as he looked at the three people staring down at him, holding him still, combined with the awkward and bulky tubing stuck in his throat made him feel slightly claustrophobic. He felt unbearable pain in his gut that threatened to pull him back under, fighting against it while struggling against the hands that held him trapped to the bed – he felt his chest constrict making it harder to breath. Looking up at the doctor leaning over him – his eyes pleading for help.

"Okay easy Agent DiNozzo, easy. Listen to me, you're going to be fine but I need you to calm down, I know it's hard but you need to force yourself to relax." she hated to see that look in a patient's eyes as they fought to figure out what was happening.

"Tony try to breathe into the pain - I promise it will pass." she urged, knowing the pain would ease up so much faster if he could relax his body somehow. She did her best to help, rubbing her hand gently across the top of his shoulder using her left hand. "I'll give you something more for the pain so just hang in there." she quickly increased the morphine drip that was piggy backed onto his IV.

"That's it, just follow my lead, slow breaths – in and out just like that." with the hand that was still on his shoulder she could feel his heart rate and breathing slowing ever so slightly while she kept her eyes looking right into his which she hoped would help ground him.

"Now I'm sure you know the routine since according to your file it's been less than a month since you to had to do this before, but in case - after I remove a couple of things I will let you know when I am going to pull out the main tube. Then on the count of three I will need you to cough hard while I pull it out. I promise - I'll go as fast as I can."

Gibbs carefully placed his hand on Tony's shoulder giving it just enough pressure to just remind him that he would be right there with him all the way while Jenny went ahead and stepped back out of the way only stopping when her back came into contact with the wall. She hated this part and knew she's best not watch if she wanted to remain strong – and standing.

Three minutes later the doctor was ready, she placed left hand on Tony's non-injured shoulder to keep his torso still and used her right hand to grasp the tube, "Okay – ready?" Tony nodded eagerly. "Okay then, **on** three - 1 . . . 2 . . .

**. . . 3**!"

_**To Be Continued . . . **_


	13. Pain, Flashbacks & Nightmares

_**Previously on: "A Matter Of Life And Death" - **__The Doctor prepping Tony for removal of the ventilator tube . . ._

_"__Now I'm sure you know the routine since according to your file it's been less than a month since you to had to do this before, but in case - after I remove a couple of things I will let you know when I am going to pull out the main tube. Then on the count of three I will need you to cough hard while I pull it out. I promise - I'll go as fast as I can."_

_Gibbs carefully placed his hand on Tony's shoulder giving it just enough pressure to just remind him that he would be right there with him all the way. Three minutes later the doctor was ready, she placed left hand on Tony's non-injured shoulder to keep his torso still and used her right hand to grasp the tube, "Okay – ready?" Tony nodded eagerly. "Okay then, on three - 1 . . . 2 . . .** 3**!"_

**_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_**

**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XII**

_**Tony's Room In ICU . . .**_

"Okay then Tony - on three - 1 . . . 2 . . .** 3**!" Tony did as he was told, coughing hard as the doctor pulled the tube out, freeing him finally from the rough plastic. What he hadn't anticipated was the excruciating level of pain that the coughing had left it it's wake, deep down in his chest.

Gibbs and Jenny both cringed upon hearing the strained and wet cough that came forth from Tony's chest as he had done exactly as his doctor had ordered. The tube came out easily and quickly but left his agent coughing and gasping as his body let him know who was really in charge. His lungs had to remind themselves how to take over and maintain the breathing without added assistance. While the doctor slipped a nasal cannula over his head coming to rest just under his nose, she realized that he was struggling, his body seizing up in pain. Knowing that the"flail chest syndrome" her patient had experienced shortly after arriving at the hospital could turn a simple thing like breathing into an excruciating activity. For now she could only coach him on how to relax and breath differently before his lips started turning blue. Only after doing that would then be able to take time to give him something stronger that would help reduce his increasing pain.

"You're doing fine Agent DiNozzo but you need to relax. Try to just take a few slow,shallow breaths for now and your lungs will stop trying to spasm." through the fog of pain Tony heard her but wasn't sure that he could do what she was asking since each cough caused unspeakable pain to flare up deep inside his chest. She was asking the impossible!

Then somehow through the fog of pain he was able to detect the warm grip of Gibbs' strong hand on his shoulder and just like that, it was as if he was able to somehow tap into his bosses' strength through the tethered connection, giving him the boost he needed in order to do what the Doctor was telling him to do. Plus he also knew that dispite the overwhelming pain he was feeling, he did not want to be the cause of everyone's worry - especially Gibbs - so he forced himself to relax as best he could in hopes that it would help him to stop coughing so much. By doing so he noticed right away that his breathing was starting to follow suit - evening out as he only allowed himself to take very short, shallow breaths until the agonizing coughing had finally ceased.

His face and neck broke out in beads of sweat from not only the exertion, but also from fighting against such horrific pain. But no sooner had the excruciating pain in his chest started to die down once he had gained control over his coughing, a different intense pain began to flare up in the rest of his body - mainly his abdomen and by doing so it brought his body to a new level of agony until before he knew it he was holding in his breath again, afraid to complete the rest of the action due to his chest suddenly feeling as though it were being ripped in half. The heart monitor started beeping faster as his heart also wanted in on the action, strained by the lack of oxygen Tony's body was suddenly deprived of. Gibbs looked at Tony's face and saw features that were seized in painful expression. Gibbs own face dropped in fear - not knowing what was happening.

Dr. Bianchi however - _did_ notice what was happening and it was about the same time that Gibbs had noticed as well. Tony had unknowingly gone right back to holding his breath - fighting off the pain in the only way he could, by stopping _**all**_ movement. Abriana immediately detected the patient's obvious signed of distress and realizing it had to be due to yet another spike in his level of pain! She had to act fast!

Reaching back she grabbed a nearby syringe from a tray behind her, it was filled with a much more potent and fast acting dose of pain medication mixed with some low dose muscle relaxants to stop his muscles from spasming from the pain – the pre-filled syringe was just one of the items left by nurse Anna on the tray – one of her duties was to be proactive in knowing what additional items the doctor might need for treating patients with injuries like Tony's, it was what made them a top notch team for sure. Within two seconds she had injected the liquid into an open port of Tony's IV.

"Okay Tony, I just gave you something stronger to combat the pain. I know what kind of pain these injuries can cause. I just need you to hang in there a little bit longer I promise, you'll start to feel a lot betterafter that! Then I will do everything I can to keep you as close to pain free as I can. Now I also gave you something to help relax your chest muscles so even though I know it probably feels like your chest will implode if you breath - I need you to let out that breath you are holding." Dr. Bianchi instructed.

Tony grimaced, unsure he would be able to make it through those 'few minutes' but in no time he started to feel the pain slowly dissapating as it went from sheer agony to slightly bearable. He cautiously released a short breath followed by a few more very shallow and very short breaths, silent while he waited for the pain to die back down to only a slightly tolerable level and feeling his the muscle relaxants doing their thing in getting his chest to ease it's tightening hold. He immediately noticed his heart beat slowing to a semi-normal state, if the consistent and slowed beeping of the heart monitor was any indication. But his abdomen on the other hand continued to throb in unison with the beat as blood still rushed to the sight of his more severe wounds as if angrily punishing his body for shooting upwards into a nearly upright position earlier and aggravating every tender injury.

"Good, you're doing good. Now you should be able to try taking a little bit deeper breaths as the pain continues to subside. The last thing we need is for you to pass out on us now that we have you back." she added, hoping to lighten the fairly somber atmosphere. Then as exhausted as the whole event had left him, having drained what little adrenaline he had left, he still forced himself to talk in order to clear up that major misconception.

"D'Noz-" he started, pausing to catch his still short breath - "D'noozzzo'ss - donn't - passsouut." he finally and slowly retaliated, his voice still raspy and eyes still closed tightly. He was unable to see the effect that his slightly slurred and comedic statement was having on the some of the other people in the room – two of his three visitors were grinning from humorous comment, Jenny relieved to finally see the best part of Tony's personality still in tact – his sense of humor. It gave her hope that he would be okay.

Dr. Bianchi also took it as a good sign - she knew first hand how therapeutic humor could be on not only a patient, but also on their families as well.

Gibbs on the other hand wasn't ready to smile - or relax for that matter. He was the only one who knew the true origin of Tony's comment as the memory popped into his mind as clear as if it happened only yesterday.

_**[Beginning of flashback] **__It has been about 5 years ago when Tony originally uttered that same phrase. It was back in Tony's pre-NCIS days when he was a recently promoted detective with the Baltimore PD. It came at the end of the first case that caused his and Tony's lives to intersect while sharing jurisdiction on the gruesome case. Tony had just been involved in a serious fist fight with one of the criminals when they went to apprehend their two main suspects - accused of murdering two Baltimore cops and one Navy Lieutenant using slow and agonizing methods._

_After being on the receiving end of one too many blows to the head by the suspect's brass knuckle adorned fist, Tony had attempted to act fine immediately following the fight and subsequent arrest – Gibbs ran over towards the downed detective but by the time got to him Tony had already forced himself to rise, albeit unsteadily, to his feet. Gibbs grabbed a hold of him under one of his arms to help him regain his footing, cringing as he noticed blood now starting to flow more heavily from where the brass knuckles had broken the skin near his scalp just at the hairline above his forehead – standing upright had causing it to flow more freely._

_But as soon as Tony realized that the gruff Federal agent was leading him right towards an ambulance and the awaiting EMT's, he turned to try and go in the opposite direction only to feel his knees almost immediately starting to buckle causing Gibbs to act fast - catching the faltering young detective and hoisting him back up, taking on most of his weight while Tony clearly fought the urge to black out completely._

_Gibbs had had just about enough lecturing the man whose natural ability to solve crimes had impressed him like no one else had in quite some time – if ever._

'Look DiNozzo, do us all a favor would ya? Just stop trying to play the tough guy n just let me get you over to the EMT's before you pass out completely!'_ It was then he received the now classic come back for the first time_. _**[End of flashback]**_

Gibbs didn't fall for it _then_ - and he certainly wasn't falling for it _now_!

"Hmmm . . . where've I heard _that_ before?" Gibbs teased. "Now how about you shut up 'n let the doctor do her job huh? Save all the tall tales for when you're feeling better?" Tony opened his eyes and looked up only to his boss wink at him and sporting a barely there grin to let Tony know what he said – he said in jest. The action caught Tony by surprise since Gibbs almost never showed affection like that. Meanwhile Gibbs was busy trying to refrain himself from going any further – determined not to show any more signs of how much it warmed his heart to have his juvenile and goofy agent back.

Tony 's played along not wanting his boss to know that he saw right through him for once. Still looking at Gibbs Tony squinted his eyes to emphasize annoyance when fatigue took over again, causing his glare to give way to a pout – another classic DiNozzo expression - not unlike the look that a three year old would make after being told no cookies until after dinner.

It wasn't until then that Tony allowed himself to look around that he remembered the fact that Director Shepard was there, looking back to the other side of the bed he took in the woman whom was obviously his doctor.

Looking back and forth to the women on either side of him he thought, '_'Wow, talk about complicated!' _then he thought about the fact that there were two women here, both beautiful, both closer to Gibbs age than his own and even though the doctor's hair wasn't full out red, there were definitely enough auburn red highlights in it to qualify her as a rather exotic red head.

_Uh-ohhh this could turn out bad . . . very very bad.'_ - it was as if he could pick up on the pheromones being emitted from both women and even though he hadn't been awake long, he definitely picked up on the way they both looked at his boss when he spoke – and if anyone knew when a woman was attracted to a man – it was Tony. Everyone's attention was brought back to the doctor as her voice broke through the suddenly awkward silence.

"Alright, look you need to rest Agent DiNozzo so in order to do that I need to finish my exam." her words causing Tony to roll his eyes slightly – he knew what that meant . . . more painful prodding!

Agent Gibbs, Director, can I talk to you for a minute over there. She pointed to part of the room closer to the door.

"Would you two mind stepping out for a few minutes while I finish the rest of his exam?" she asked. "Perhaps go get a cup of coffee, I'm sure you both could use one and to be honest I really don't need him to be distracted by anyone or anything else, especially when I do the brain injury evaluation to check the level of the concussion he obtained from the impact of hitting that hillside. I'm sure he would put on more of a tough front – especially with you in the room Jethro. Then there's also the privacy factor."

Gibbs and Jenny didn't need to hear any more as they nodded in agreement. They both knew that for Tony's sake they needed to do anything the hospital staff asked of them. But as Jenny headed toward the door Gibbs stepped back over to Tony's side for a minute.

"Tony." he began once he saw that he was still awake. "Hey I'll be right outside in the hall – but listen, just because you have that tube out it doesn't mean you have free reign to start runnin' yer mouth off. You let the doc check you out and do what she _tells_ you to do or you'll have me to answer to! Ya got that?" he ordered.

Tony nodded and fought the urge to smile. He noticed Gibbs' voice didn't carry a quarter of it's usual threatening tone and though he didn't like when Gibbs acted 'nice', he had to admit he secretly liked the way it made him feel knowing the man he looked up to really did care about him. "Ye-ah . . . got it b-boss." his dry throat causing his voice to catch making him sound more like a teenager going through puberty.

"Good! Oh and don't think you can fool her either cuz she's good! Trust me - she'll know if you're not playin' it straight." Gibbs added one last warning.

Finally Gibbs and the Director left, only going as far as the nurses' station since the head nurse offered them some of their own and much better coffee than they would have gotten from the vending machine.

Dr. Bianchi didn't waste a second as she twisted the rod closing the rest of the vertical blinds that covered the all glass walls of the room so that no one could see in. For some reason Tony grew more nervous as he suddenly felt so alone and more vulnerable for sure. But the doctor was all business and quickly started on the exam, beginning with asking him the routine questions that were standard when a patient had a concussion of _any_ level. While doing that she kept her hands busy by sliding his blanket down to gain access to his abdominal area, untying the loosely tied flimsy hospital gown that had been tied in the front for faster access to his wounds. She wanted to make sure he hadn't pulled any sutures from his rapid ascension when he first woke up, and even if he hadn't, she still made a mental note to remember to reprimand his boss later for causing her patient's dangerous reaction in the first place!

Tony felt himself blushing as he noticed cool air hitting lower on his abdomen and the top of his pelvis than he realized was even exposed. '_Geez -' _he thought, '- _just how far down is the damn incision?_'

Thankfully the doctor had been too focused checking on the incision to see the bright red tinge that now adorned his cheeks. Then he noticed she was frowning slightly causing him to worry as to why.

"Uh, not impress'd with my 6 pa-, er – okay maybe 4 pack's more accurate." he asked, hoping his joke would cover his own worry but his weak and tired voice reduced the effect.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to alarm you Agent DiNozzo, I -"

"Please, call me Tony. I mean you have me in a very . . . vulnerable position right now so uh – Agent DiNozzo's a little formal don't ya think? I mean – I am half naked." he joked this time to cover his embarrassment. Then he winced as soreness seemed to be settling in again all over his body, and especially where he had surgery, now aching with more intensity than it had been for a while.

"Okay." she smiled. "Tony it is. Now . . . To-ny . . . I believe in being 100% upfront with my patients. Even though your external sutures are still in tact, it's you internal sutures that I am concerned about. Those stitches are meant to dissolve later on,_ after _your incision has healed to a certain point. I suspect it is those interior stitches that may have been damaged. Now it could have happened when you attempted to help rescue your boss when the intruder was in your room – or it could have been when you rose up to a near upright position when we attempted to wake you earlier – either way your incision is . . . uh well, for lack of a better term - oozing more fluids than it should be." She couldn't help but notice Tony's body tense at her words.

"Sorry for being so blunt Agent DiNo- - Tony – but I believe in being honest with my patients." she explained.

"-'S fine Doc. Sooo-whaddowedo about it?" he asked in a very neutral tone of voice, feeling indifferent about the news and wanting nothing more than to just go back to sleep.

"Well, it's not as bad as it sounds but basically any fluids that build up at the site of the surgery should be confined to the drainage tube we inserted during the surgery to serve that very purpose – meaning no fluids should be seeping from the actual incision itself. I'm concerned that some of the internal suturing may have been compromised but I don't want to jump to conclusions since it will be easy enough to fix if it is and right now I want to see you get a little stronger before we do anything else – and I especially want to wait until Dr. Pitt evaluates the condition of your lungs."

Tony closed his eyes for the umpteenth time – it seemed to be a habit he couldn't avoid lately.

"So here's what I'm going to do, for now I will assign my staff to change the dressing and lightly cleanse the area more frequently for a while – every 30 minutes or so. I'm going to put you on some stronger antibiotics just to be safe and I'll order a couple of tests to get a closer look inside."

Something about her soothing tone made Tony feel so much better and not worried – then again it took a lot to get him to be concerned, he wasn't easily scared. "Okay, as long as the staff you mentioned is all female, then I guess I can handle that." he joked, then yawned as his body suddenly started to fatigue even faster. She asked him to bear with her for a few more minute and then she would leave him to sleep to his heart's content. After checking his head wound and taking notes to have the staff also change the dressing on that abrasion, then using her penlight to check his pupils while asking detailed questions such as his middle name, what year it was, what year he was born, etc – she completed the rest of her exam in a few minutes' time.

By the time she had finished she was pleased to see him already out, fast asleep and resting easily. Once she stepped out into the hall she informed Gibbs and the Director only of her plan to have his dressings changed more frequently – naturally causing Gibbs face to cloud over in worry. She then confirmed that her initial prognosis still stood, that he would make a complete recovery. She then politely excused herself to get to the other numerous patients she still had to check in on.

Jenny assured Gibbs that she would go back to the waiting room to update the others on their friend's condition but she knew she also wanted to check to make sure the arrangements for the additional security on all of the agents and the hospital that she had ordered, had been put into place. She knew that Gibbs had already taken care of the most important task of assigning a guard to Tony's room. One that he had hand picked for the key position himself even going so far as to threaten to slowly filet the man using a pocket knife if he let _anyone_ get near his agent without Gibbs' approval. Gibbs had already headed right back into Tony's room while Jenny took off down the hall in the opposite direction than that of the waiting room – she had one more task to complete before she went to update the others. She knew Gibbs wouldn't be happy about what that task was – but she also knew he would see she was right as long as he allowed her to explain.

_**Inside Tony's room . . .**_

Tony seemed to be dozing again but right when Gibbs arrived next to his bed, smiling at how peaceful he seemed to be and how young and childlike he seemed at the same time. Taking his usual seat and pulling it closer to the bed he resumed his watch and not five minutes later he noticed Tony's entire body completely tensing up right before he yelled out a raspy "Ari!" which sounded more like a strained and loud whisper than it did a yell.

"No . . . NO, STOP!" Tony yelled out a second time.

Before Gibbs could get to him to try and calm him down – Tony's eyes shot open and started frantically scanning the room. By now Gibbs was right there, hands lightly placed on each of Tony's shoulders preventing him from rising even an inch – he'd be damned if he was going to see a repeat of what had happened earlier where twice Tony had nearly torn his stitches by sitting up. Finally Tony's breathing slowed down and his wide eyes slowly stopped searching his surroundings after most likely looking for Ari.

"What happe-? Did I -? Is he -?" his eyes were laced with confusion looking everywhere but at Gibbs. His boss took control of the situation now that Tony seemed to have come out of his nightmare, his face beaded with the lightest sheen of sweat from the stressful mental exertion and fear. "It's okay Tony no one is here, it's just you 'n me. Ya got that? Ari's gone and he won't be back, you have my word." he directed his entire focus by looking straight into his agent's eyes to make sure he knew he meant every word.

Feeling an almost magnetic pull he finally let his own eyes zero in on his bosses' familiar blue eyes, still feeling very disoriented as he looked into them for answers.

"It was just a nightmare Tony, the events of the past few days combined with those damn drugs they keep pumping into you – it's unavoidable, you're bound to have 'em." he tried to downplay the whole thing in hopes that Tony's fatigue would take over and he could avoid telling him what really happened.

Tony however had no intention of letting it drop. "But it . . . well, it just seemed so _real_! I mean, I saw Ari – in here, right in _this_ room! He . . . he was attacking _**you!**_" his tone of voice rose steadily as the details of the dream came back to him. His eyes shifting away from Gibbs while he struggled to fill in the blanks. Gibbs own eyes also looked away while he struggled with whether he should tell Tony the truth now, or wait until he was stronger. Finally he chose the former of the two options since he had never lied to him before and he wasn't going to start now.

Looking back down and Tony he proceeded to explain, "Alright . . . okay just . . . Tony I'm gonna tell you something but you have to promise me that you won't get upset and that you won't react in a way that will aggravate your injuries – alright?" Tony looked back up meeting his boss straight in the eye and then nodded.

"Okay, now I'd hoped to avoid having this conversation until you were a little stronger . . . but you know I always tell you what's going on whether you want to hear it or not. Now, even though what you had was definitely a nightmare . . ." he paused trying to find the right words since that definitely wasn't something that came easy to him. "It was pretty close to what really went down in here - late yesterday."

Tony nodded slowly though even more confused. "Wait . . . " he blinked a few times as if that would help his mind to catch up. . . "What?"

Gibbs continued, "Ari Tony . . . it was Ari - he _was_ in this room and he _did _attack me . . . well in a way I guess. He made some idle threats and then sprayed something in my face . . . turned out to be some kind of paralytic drug. Then he escaped – it was all to easy . . . and I shudder to think of what he could have done to you as well, once I was otherwise occupied and unable to move."

"My God boss, he could have killed you . . . and _no one_ would have been there to stop him!" as it suddenly dawned on him just what could have happened.

"Hh-ohh, believe me DiNozzo – you tried to." Tony was now starting to think his boss was joking about the whole thing, before he could argue that he would have remembered doing something like that, Gibbs kept talking. "In fact you were so out of it that I still don't know how you did what you did but, you were determined to get out of bed to help me – that in the process you managed to rip out not only your IV and nearly every tube – but some of your damn stitches right along with it. Course . . . I didn't find that out til later."

By now Tony's mouth hung open in shock. How could he not remember doing that? Something so violent and he imagined – painful to say the least.

"But ya did good Tony - whether you remember doing it or not!"

"No, Gibbs I mean come on, how could I not remember doing something like that? I don't remember even a second of that actually happening." he was no looking down at his body, realizing just how much damage he could have caused himself yet still – remembering nothing.

"Adrenaline's a funny thing Tony – can cause you to do things that your body wouldn't normally be able to handle in the condition you were in - but the drugs you were on at the time were pretty potent so I'm sure that played into it. Now listen to me, then we are dropping the subject until you get some sleep – the bottom line is - I'm fine, you're fine, Ari's gone for now - and he won't get anywhere near _either_ of us with all the damn security we now have in place. "

Finally letting go of Tony's shoulders, Gibbs backed up a little getting ready to move towards his usual seat. "But right now – all I want _you_ doing is resting, just focus on getting better – got it? We can talk about this more later, like when you're out of ICU."

Tony's eyes had already started to close during the latter part of the conversation, he kept fighting it, jerking his eyes back open right before they closed all the way. He had still been alert enough to be surprised when Gibbs honored him with the rare compliment but then his body quickly started to lose it's fight to stay awake and by the time Gibbs uttered his last sentence, Tony was already starting to drift off the rest of the way, his face still sporting a hint of a smile ever since he received his bosses' heart felt praise.

Gibbs watched as Tony's body went lax and sunk back down into the pillows, the smile didn't go unnoticed and caused him to smile as well, Seeing the man whom he loved like a Son, happy like that was all he needed to feel the same way. Then just as he turned to pull his chair even closer and finally relax for a minute – his attention was again diverted by raised voice, but this time it wasn't Tony's.

This time it was coming from outside his door in the hallway. Glancing back to make sure Tony had not been awakened by the yelling, Gibbs headed towards the door determined to see what the commotion was that was taking place right where the security officer had been posted just out of sight of the sliding door. His gut clenched tightly as he reached for the handle of the sliding door and started to pull it open. . .

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N – This time I'm not sorry for the cliffie – hee. I will fix any missed spelling or grammatical errors later as always. Just excited to get this posted fast! Please review! :-) Thanks!**_


	14. Changing Of The Guard?

_**A/N –**_

_This chapter is a little horter than my usual updates but the good news is - I have another update Half completely and will hopefully post tomorrow. In another short note at the end of this chapter I explain why I stopped it where I did. _

_**Quick question/poll **- I like to provide a lot of detail to each scene including occasional clips of character's backgrounds, upbringings or past injuries and such just to fill the story and make it more believable – but if you feel I am adding too much of that stuff rather than moving the story along, pls send me a personal msg from my profile page so I can see what the general consensus is. BTW - this is re: all of my stories. Thank you!_

_**~ Enjoy this update! ~ BnBFanatic**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on: "A Matter Of Life And Death" . . .**_

_Gibbs watched as Tony's body became lax and he sank further down against the pillows, he also noticed the barely there smile which caused Gibbs' own lips to turn upwards into a grin of his own over seeing the man he loved like a son happy like that. It was all that he needed to see in order to feel the same way. _

_Then just as he turned to pull his chair even closer and finally relax for a minute – his attention was again diverted by the sound of a raised voice, but this time it wasn't Tony's – no this time it was coming from outside Tony's room, in the hallway not far from the door. Glancing back to make sure Tony had not been awakened by the yelling, Gibbs then headed towards the door, determined to see what the commotion was and why the Security Guard didn't seem to be doing anything to stop it. His gut clenched tightly as he reached for the handle of the sliding door and started to pull it open. . . _

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XIII**

_**Hallway Outside Tony's Room In ICU . . .**_

Right before Gibbs slid door open to see what was going on in the hallway, he couldn't help but wonder just what the hell could possibly be so damn important that someone felt they had to disrupt the most harmonious place in the entire hospital – the Intensive Care Unit - and so late in the evening on top of that..

He wasn't sure he would be able to resolve the argument but he knew one thing for sure – this was _**not **_going to happen on_ his _watch!

As soon as he entered the hallway he found himself standing face to face with the assigned security guard and a petite woman he didn't recognize. She was fresh faced with a natural exotic type of beauty about her, she had long brown hair pulled loosely back into a pony tail sporting basic cargo pants and a T-shirt type of shirt. And even though the security guard towered over her standing nearly a foot taller than she was, she still managed to appear just as tall on pure attitude alone.

"I said, I have orders to relieve you! Exactly what part of that sentence do you_** not**_ understand?" the feisty beauty hollered, now standing on her toes yet looking up at the towering man with her face just inches away from his own.

"I heard you the last three times you said that – _**ma'am**_- and like I also said, until you produce some orders and identification to back that claim up – no one will be relieving _**anyone**_!"

"Stand down both of you – **now**!" Gibbs demanded while still managing to keep his own voice down so as not to add to their loud intrusion. "Now, you have 10 seconds to tell me what the hell is going on here!"

"She's thinks she can ju-"

"He is being a stubbor-"

"Stop!" Gibbs interrupted the fired up duo after they both started pummeling him with their own version of what happened, He then looked at Ziva while holding his hand up to signal the male guard to stay silent.

"You . . . **speak**." he said, letting Ziva know he had his permission to tell her side of the story since Gibbs was admittedly still somewhat old fashioned when it came to women, especially when it came to the old 'ladies first' rule. He wasn't completely chauvinistic, he didn't believe that a woman's place was in the home, hell he had worked with some of the strongest and most brave women in both the Marines and at NCIS.

Ziva raised an eyebrow, surprised to see the commanding agent allowing her to speak first. In her Country that would never have been the case since women were taught from a very young age, that men deserve the respect first and foremost. It wasn't so bad that the woman were only allowed to speak when spoken to or anything that severe – but woman were definitely knew there place when in the presence of men. Ziva however had struggled with the archaic way of thinking as she became older, in fact she had run ins with her Father more than once over the subject. She could be very stubborn when she wanted to be which ironically was the one trait she had most in common with the man.

She didn't miss a beat after her initial surprise had passed and immediately began to explain

"I was given _very_ specific instructions from the **Director** of NCIS to guard this room _and_ the injured agent located inside. Why she did not convey that information to _**you**_ sir, I do not know." she informed him, arms firmly folded across her chest.

"Uh-huh. Well this guard was also under orders Miss David and he did exactly as he was instructed by not leaving his post for _anybody _or for _any _reason. And the injured agent in there? He belongs to me, he's _**my**_ Senior Field Agent and no one takes over guarding him without running it through me. Not even the Director herself. Do I make myself **clear**?" Gibbs quietly but forcefully explained, secretly glad no one was yelling anymore and threatening to wake his agent who was badly in need of the rest.

"Yes sir, very clear." she replied stoically. She surprised herself when she found herself agreeing with the man. She had never met him before but had a feeling that this boisterous man was none other than Agent Gibbs, whom the director had spoke of quite often. She had met Jenny while working a case together years ago in Paris, Ziva couldn't help thinking that her firey friend had described the man who now stood in front of her perfectly; handsome - charming when he wants to be - and fiercely protective of his team.

Jenny had also confided to Ziva when they had gone out to unwind and celebrate having wrapped up their case, when after Jenny had imbibed in one too many glasses of wine - she had admitted that she and Gibbs had ended up becoming lovers after one particularly long and harrowing mission in which Gibbs unfortunately ended up being shot before the case was over. She then painfully admitted to her new Israeli friend that Gibbs had been the one man that she had regretfully let 'get away' as they say. Ziva's attention was forced back to the present moment when she realized she hadn't been paying attention to what Gibbs was saying to her.

"Good, but **don't **call me sir. Now why don't we start with some identification?" he instructed calmly while reaching up with one hand to rub his tired eyes and face.

"All I have on me right now is my passport." she explained as she cautiously reached into the back pocket of her cargo pants and slowly presented the small booklet. After Gibbs looked it over he continued, determined to get to the bottom of this debacle.

"Okaayy so - you are Ziva David."

"It is pronounced Da-veed."

"Okay Miss Da-veeed, tell me, why would the Director see fit to have _you_ guarding my agent over one of our best security officers whom is not only already doing the job - but who was hand picked by **me**?"

"I . . . I don't know. I only know that Jen- . . .Director Shepard is well aware of my abilities. I am more than capable of guarding your precious elderly agent and I am **just** - f**ollowing** – **orders.**" she explained, her voice rising a little in volume while remaining very monotone, her expression . . . all business.

Gibbs squinted his bleary eyes at her in confusion. What a minute – what? _Did she just say 'elderly' agent?_!

"Miss David I don't know what kind of game you're playing or if you just have some strange sense of humor, but trust me – I do not find you amusing. The term 'Senior' agent has nothing to do anyone's _age_ so let's get that straight. Now what do you mean you're following _orders_? Do you always follow orders from people you don't actually _work_ for?"

Ziva became rather uncomfortable upon hearing his last question, but knowing that she had to answer the man.

"Perhaps it would be best if you contact your Director Shepard Agent Gibbs. As far as I know - I **do** work for her."

_**TBC . . .**_

_**Don't fret or ask about how come Ziva was separated from the Director since Ziva is the guest whom Jenny had picked up at the airport. That will be explained fully at the start of the next chapter. I stopped this chapter here because it just seemed like a perfect place to stop. BUT I will give you one more update to this fic before I go on to update my Bones story (Mistaken Identity) of which I am way overdue on updating! I will also proof read this one more time later and fix missed errors as usual.**_

_**Thank you for all so much of your awesome reviews and please keep them coming – I love hearing what parts you like best and all that fun stuff! Since this one is short if you want to wait and review after the next chapter then that's totally cool. :-)  
**_


	15. Miss Ziva David

_A/N – I've decided in order to keep the story moving forward more I will not reflect back on any background that we already know about, I will only do that if I have something I want to add about their pasts that we never knew before. Thanks again for all of you who reviewed! Wow I can't get over how awesome your reviews all are and how many new faces I am seeing so to speak. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Sorry for any missed errors, I always fix them eventually. This chapter isn't too long since I know some people seem to prefer them to be around this size. ~Enjoy~_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on: "A Matter Of Life And Death" . . .**_

_"Miss David I don't know what kind of game you're playing or if you just have some strange sense of humor, but trust me – I do not find you amusing. The term 'Senior' agent has nothing to do anyone's age so let's get that straight. Now what do you mean you're following orders? Do you always follow orders from people you don't actually work for?"_

_Ziva became rather uncomfortable upon hearing his last question, but knowing that she had to answer the man._

_"Perhaps it would be best if you contact Miss Shepard Agent Gibbs. As far as I know, I __**do**__ work for her."_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XIV**

_**Hallway Outside Tony's ICU Room . . .**_

"Perhaps it would be best if you contact Miss Shepard Agent Gibbs. As far as I know, I **do** work for her." The Israeli beauty's words caught Gibbs by surprise. She was not only bordering on insubordination with her demanding tone, but she had also shocked him a little with the context of the statement and he found it hard to even absorb her explanation. She _**worked**_ for Jenny?

After shooting her a burning glare he silently took out his cell phone and quickly hit speed dial 5 to call his former partner. '_Screw hospital policy regarding no cell phone usage allowed_!' he thought defiantly as he waited for her to pick up.

_**Meanwhile ~ Just Outside The Waiting Room . . .**_

Jenny had just turned down the hallway that would take her to the waiting room, her mind wasn't as focused on where she was going as much as it was on a multitude of other things she had on her mind. How much worse Tony looked than she had expected, how worried Jethro seemed, how flirtatious the doctor was acting towards him and . . . "O_**h crap**_!" she suddenly exclaimed outloud.

Suddenly it dawned on her that she had completely forgotten about the visitor she had just picked up at the airport less than an hour ago. She had been in such a hurry to get to ICU to see how Tony was doing but also to check on Gibbs after hearing about the latest attack and then her mind further clouded by everything that happened once she got there. Seeing Tony struggling, then the tube and – it had all been too much to take in, too much to handle all at once. She hadn't even gotten a chance to make sure that Jethro was truly okay or to find out from _him_ - what had happened with Ari! And now, she had also left her friend waiting outside the hospital in the car that had brought them there after promising to be back to bring her in as soon as she informed Gibbs of her arrival.

That conversation hadn't happened either! On one hand she wanted to slap herself in the back of her own head as Jethro did to his team, but on the other hand their priority really was Tony anyway so if his waking up and needing that tube removed had pulled Jenny's train of thought slightly off track – not to mention threw her agenda out the door, then so be it. She would simply go get Ziva now and bring her to Tony's room and deal with Gibbs when they got there. Just as she turned to head towards the parking lot, she would have to forego updating the team until after informing Gibbs of the new semi-permanent addition to his team – her cell phone vibrated against her hip, pulsating through the thin material of her small handbag.

Seeing Gibbs showing up in her caller ID she instantly worried something had gone wrong where Tony was concerned. "What is it Gibbs? Is Tony alright?"

"Yes Madam Di-**REC**tor he's fine. But would you care to tell me why I am standing in the hall way outside of his room staring at a woman whom is claiming to work for you?"

After a long pause he finally received an answer, "Oh, that. I would apologize but we all know how you feel about _that_! I meant to tell you earlier, I guess in all of the commotion and worry over Tony's health, I forgot. She's good Jethro – the best. I worked with her before and I know what she is capable of. You will not find a better - or more lethally trained guard than Ziva. She was trained by Mossad."

Again Gibbs face reflected his surprise and his facial muscles went lax from surprise. _Mossad? Did she just say, Mossad? _

"You're gonna have to do better than that Jenny. You can't expect me to just trust what you tell me when I have nothing else to go on."

"I understand that Jethro, that's why I have her file for you to review. I was already planning on giving it to you so you can see her background firsthand as well as see what kind of training this girl has. If it will make you feel more comfortable then – why don't you keep the current guard there to watch the room along _with_ Ziva until I get back over there?"

Gibbs simply disconnected the call leaving Jenny to assume he was in agreement. At least she hoped that was the case. She ordered her driver to get her to the hospital faster just in case.

"Okay here's how we're going to do this. You - . . ." he said pointing to Ziva and handing her passport back to her, ". . . - can stay out here under **one** condition – that **he** stays too. Until Jen- the Director gets here with your file, then she and I will . . ._ re-evaluate_ the arrangement." then turning on his heel he went back into Tony's room leaving Ziva and the guard staring awkwardly at each other.

Eventually they each turned away and assumed their individual posts on taking up positions on either side of Tony's door, both of them looking straight ahead at the wall across from them and neither of them speaking.

_**Inside Tony's Room . . .**_

"Whassall the como-sshnn?"

Gibbs as usual hadn't even made a sound when he came back into the room and slowly made his way back towards Tony' s bed when he heard his weakly voiced question.

"Nothin' you need to worry your pretty little head about DiNozzo. Go back t' sleep!" ribbing his agent on purpose trying to make light of the situation so that Tony wouldn't be concerned. He only needed Tony to focus on healing and nothing more.

"Mm-hmm. You ssa-ay it was nothin' - but that sscow-wll on yer face . . . sayszz it wasssomethin'." Tony pointed out, staring at his boss through glassy and slightly unfocused eyes, his words slightly slurred by medication and his sentences coming out more slowly that his usual upbeat manner. "Sssokay, I'll play along . . . frankly - 'm too tired t' really care." he admitted with his eyes remaining closed the entire time. He still felt so light headed and groggy that it almost seemed as if his brain was literally floating on a cloud of drugs.

Gibbs smiled lazily in relief and amusement, happy that Tony at least had sense enough to listen to his body for a change AND had the sense not to push the subject any further.. '_Maybe he got hit in the head harder than I thought_!' He chuckled to himself, taking his usual seat and bringing his feet up to rest on the rail of Tony's bed just as he always did all of the other unfortunate times Tony's lack of self preservation landed in this same type of setting. He would just wait for Jenny to come back in and explain more about the woman in the hallway, but there was no sense in being uncomfortable while he waited.

He hadn't realized he had started to doze off himself, tired from all of the activity and worry he had been forced to endure over the past few weeks, stemming back to when his top agent unknowingly opened an envelope filled with a powder of potential death. His hyper alert senses detected someone coming into the room a full minute before the door actually opened revealing Jenny Shepard in the door frame.

The curtains were still pulled over all of the glass walls so they had privacy from people in the hallway. "Jethro, I feel terrible about forgetting to inform you of my bringing Ziva here to help. I really meant to tell you but when I came in here last time – I – I was so caught off guard at seeing Tony . . . he – he just looked so fragile and in pain and . . . then there was the whole tube in the throat thing and I - . . ."

"Jen, stop. It's fine - I understand. Now just tell me what the hell is going on." he kept his voice at a whisper so as not to disturb Tony who finally seemed to be sleeping comfortably for the time being.

"Okay well, the file I have for you is still out in the car. I'll see that you get it later. But I worked with Ziva during a past mission and I was just very impressed with everything about her. Her instincts, her ability to fight no matter what we were up against, her photographic memory, her unsuspecting beauty and her intelligence."

"Sounds an awful lot like you Jen." Gibbs remarked with a half grin appearing on his face.

"Yes, well I guess that explains why I was so taken with her Jeth-ro." Jenny joked back, secretly flattered by his comparison. "Anyway I was able to convince the SecNav into letting me bring her over on a semi-permanent basis to act as a Liason Officer. Um, think of it like . . . an exchange student – or agent rather. I planned to increase your team by one."

At that news Gibbs was up and out of his chair in a flash moving quickly to stand with his face just inches from the Director's. "Just where the hell do you get off doing anything with my team without even asking me? As you just said yourself – it's _**my**_ team!"

"Now Jethro just calm down! The last thing we need to be doing is fighting right next to Tony! He's been through hell and he does not deserve to have to deal with our bullshit on top of everything else! But need I remind you that I oversee you and your team so I do not need to ask your _**per-MISsion**_ for anything!"

Gibbs was steaming! _'Damn this woman can infuriate me like no other!' _he thought_, '. . . well except maybe two of my ex-wives_.' he realized silently. Taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down and keep his blood pressure from rising any further he looked back towards Tony to make sure they hadn't disturbed him and thanks to all of the drugs still being pumped through his body he was down for the count.

"Jethro look, I know you are angry and I understant that. I should have run it by you first just out of professional courtesy if nothing else and I'm sorry."

"As you said earlier Jen - you know how I feel about apologies. But in this case, I'll make an acception because franly - you _should _apologize. Now here's how it's gonna be. I will allow Miss David to remain here for probationary period of 10 days – long enough for her to assist in guarding Tony until he's at least able to somewhat take care of himself in the event there are any more attacks. Then and only then will I re-evaluate this and decide whether she can stay."

"Okay – fair enough."

Gibbs was not expecting her to give in so quickly but he knew she also had a soft side and that she was most likely doing it so that Gibbs could go back to focusing on his critically injured agent as well as the rest of his team – and in catching Ari.

"Go-ood . . . no-oww pleassse - c'n you two jus kisssnnmm-akeup alreadyy? There's 'n in-juurred man ovv-err here tryin' t' get s'm sslleeep."

Both of their heads turned towards Tony's bed as they realized they _**had **_woken him up. Both of them felt like head slapping each other for not taking their selfish and petty argument elsewhere. Even drugged stupid and slurring like he'd been on an all night binger – Tony still managed to be funny, purposely attempting to put everyone else at ease as usual, knowing his boss and his bosses' boss would feel bad for waking him up.

Smiling Jenny glanced guiltily over towards Gibbs before responding. "Oh, sorry Tony. Look – I'll leave now and you have my word - this _**won't**_ happen again." Jenny promised him while walking over to his bedside where she reached down and gently squeezed his hand, noticing that he still hadn't opened his eyes and seemed close to falling back under. In just a few seconds his face became completely lax letting the bickering agents know that he was safe in the of arms of slumber once again though his face still bore the hint of a smile..

_**TBC . . .**_

_I hope you enjoy - pls review and I have updates coming for my "Mistaken Identity", "Consequences" and Phobia" stories next hopefully in that order. :-)_


	16. Something Is Bothering Tony?

_A/N – Since so many of my NCIS fics just happen to have Tony in the hospital now simultaneously – I know it's easy to forget which story you are reading and which injuries he's suffering from, etc. Plus is this a Ziva on the team story – or Kate – or both. I thought since we are more than half way through most of my stories I would remind everyone at the start the very next update – some of the facts of the story so you can read it with the right one in mind. Starting with this story/update.._

_**Matter Of Life Or Death**__**Recap: **__Set during the "Twilight" epi. Jenny's the Director, Kate is alive having not been killed by Ari yet. Maybe she still will – maybe she won't be in my version (I am leaning towards not). Ziva just arrived so we'll soon get to see she and Kate interact together and with Tony so that will be fun. Tony's injuries: Lungs not recovered fully from plague, pulmonary contusion on his left lung, lacerated liver, cracked lungs from force of the car explosions propelling him into the side of the hill, possible worsening infection due to tearing some of the interior sutures (that are made to dissolve gradually) when he tried to help Gibbs. ~ __**Now read on and enjoy. I hope that helps. ~**_

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on: "A Matter Of Life And Death" . . .**_

_Both of their heads turned towards Tony's bed as they realized they __**had **__woken him up. Both of them felt like head slapping each other for not taking their selfish and petty argument elsewhere. Even drugged stupid and slurring like he'd been on an all night binger – Tony still managed to be funny, purposely attempting to put everyone else at ease as usual, knowing his boss and his bosses' boss would feel bad for waking him up._

_Smiling Jenny glanced guiltily over towards Gibbs before responding. "Oh, sorry Tony. Look – I'll leave now and you have my word - this __**won't**__ happen again." Jenny promised him while walking over to his bedside where she reached down and gently squeezed his hand, noticing that he still hadn't opened his eyes and seemed close to falling back under. In just a few seconds his face became completely lax letting the bickering agents know that he was safe in the of arms of slumber once again though his face still bore the hint of a smile.._

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XV**

Gibbs rubbed his hands across his weary face as he stood there next to Tony's bed, staring down at his battered agent for the umpteenth time in that last several hours. His mind wandered as he thought about what Jenny had done.

_'What was all of this crap about another agent on his team? Hell, not even a full fledged agent for Pete's sake!'_ He couldn't help thinking that Jenny took advantage of her position and did things like hiring this Mossad Officer just to show him she had the power to do things without his involvement or his say.

He finally resigned himself to the fact that he would have to give the Israeli woman a chance and hope that deep down Jenny still had his six. He really couldn't imagine that she would throw someone onto his team who wasn't capable and an expert in her own right. He wondered how Kate was going to like having another female to help even out the ratio of men vs women on the team a little better.

_**Elsewhere In The Hospital – Same Floor As ICU . . .**_

"Well they're definitely taking your threats seriously Sir." The whispering voice was coming from a small storage room where boxes of supplies such as extra medical scrubs, doctor's masks, empty hypodermic needles, Hydrogen Peroxide – any substance or supply that was not considered narcotic or dangerous was kept in the unlocked room and there was one on every floor for the on duty medical staff and interns to access in order to stock up on any items they were running low on in their stations, patient exam rooms and radiology testing rooms. It was a male voice coming from the back of the room, he was speaking quietly into a disposable cell phone to someone he was obviously paid to report to.

"Why? What did you see that makes you think that?" came the voice of Ari on the other end of the call.

"Well, they now have TWO guards posted outside that agent's room in ICU for one thing - but there was a little altercation in the hallway when the female guard arrived. Seems no one informed that Agent Gibbs of the added security. I didn't hear it myself, I overheard a couple of the on duty nurses talking about it."

"Good, I am glad they are adding more security, it will make this more interesting. Did you catch any names of the guards? You said one was a female?"

"No, sorry I didn't. But I will try to find out. She isn't dressed like the other officer at the door, I dunno - she must be an undercover agent or something."

"Okay well, good job so far. Keep it up and I'll see to it that the rest of your compensation is more than worth it. Now do you have what you need for the rest of the next stage of the plan.?" Ari asked with excitement in his voice.

"Yes sir, everything. You just text me when it's a go."

With that Ari ended the call. He placed his own disposable cell phone down, leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his back to hold his head while he relaxed back into it – a smile spreading on his face from ear to ear.

"Well well Agent Gibbs." he said out loud to no one. "I guess we'll see just how good your security is now won't we." he then burst out in a creepy and very maniacal laugh as he imagined how angered his favorite nemesis would be when all was said and done. Ari's hatred over Gibbs was building and if he had to, he didn't think he would be able to explain just why – what was it about the man that instilled such rage deep down within him? Was it the former Marine's quiet and almost arrogant cockiness and self assurance? Was it the fact that he had been such a challenging match to Ari's tactics wit for wit when the rogue Mossad officer first smuggled himself into the NCIS autopsy room? He finally gave up on trying to even figure it out.

**Tony's Room ~ ICU . . .**

Tony slowly came back around after sleeping for another couple of hours. He still felt like he hadn't slept for days and that he could easily sleep for twenty more but, something about being stuck in a hospital and especially ICU which was never good, always made him more restless than usual no matter how drugged up and drowsy or exhausted he was. Looking around to take in his surroundings now that he felt more alert than he had any of the previous times he had come around, he saw all of the equipment connecting tubes that disappeared behind bandages on various parts of his body. He saw the glass walls that reminded him of his time in the isolation chamber just a few weeks prior to this but this room was private and vertical blinds that had all been pulled to a closed position giving him privacy that he and Kate didn't really have when he was fighting the black death, mainly because Nurse Emma had to constantly monitor the two agents.

Then after hearing a slight rustle of material he turned his head to the left to find his boss in his usual spot dozing deeply as he did, able to tune out everything unless he sensed something bad might be going down and he always seemed to awaken just moments _**before **_the incident had even occurred. That was just another talent on a list of many that his boss possessed that Tony knew would remain a mystery forever.

Now that he was becoming more fully awake, his body decided to make it's presence known and remind him of every pain inducing injury; every stitch, cracked rib, headache from his concussed noggin, and worst of all was the slowly increasing pressure and pain he felt deep within his chest and lungs although it wasn't any where near as bad as it had been the previous times he had awoken. Suddenly it felt as if he had barely any pain medication left in his system – or at least it had worn off to a level too low to do much good. Even trying to take in a full deep breath was simply not gonna happen due to the sharp and almost burning pains that even a shallow breath had caused.

"Mmohhh" he moaned, unable to stop himself. He tensed up as his eyes darted back towards his boss checking to see if his groan had woken up the bear so to speak.

Gibbs didn't move, his eyes remained closed – his chest still evenly rising and falling with steady and slow breaths. Based on all appearances he seemed as deeply asleep as he had before Tony even made any noise. Tony very cautiously let out the breath he had been holding in – which wasn't much - and allowed himself to relax back down into the mattress. Then just as he started to focus on steadying his own breathing in order to try and handle his increasing pain, he heard the familiar gruffness of his bosses' voice.

"Ya seriously think I wouldn't wake up when I hear my best agent moaning in pain like that DiNoxzzo?" even while speaking Gibbs still maintained his same exact position with his eyes still closed and his breathing still as steady and even as it was when he slept. Tony's head jerked up off the pillow a couple of inches, startled by the voice of the man he really believed had been still sleeping! Turning his head towards the direction of his boss while cringing at the same time – Tony's eyes squinted into a frown. '_How does he do that?_!' he couldn't help but wonder. '_Dammit_!' he added under his breath – or so he thought, as he realized he wasn't doing a very good job of hiding his pain at all.

"Yeah Tony – dammit is right! Why the hell don't you do us both a favor and press the button for the morphine pump I gave ya? It's still in yer damn hand." Gibbs said after sitting up, letting his feet drop from the bed back down to the floor and glancing at Tony's right hand where the pump was still held tightly in his grip. It always made Gibbs angry seeing someone he cared about suffering or in danger, and he was even worse when that someone was Tony.

"Uh . . . oh. I'll be darned – lookit that. There it is - right there - in my hand. Hmmm I guess I just - forgot." Tony stuttered right before he pressed the button three times in a row as if to make up for lost time.

"Thing's got a limit DiNozzo. Ya can't get more than a certain amount no matter how many times – or how hard ya press it." Gibbs explain in his usual calm, borderline monotone way of speaking.

"Oh . . . uh, good t' know boss." Tony let his head fall wearily back down onto the pillows again as if the simple action of speaking combined with pressing the tiny button was all it took to wear him out – and it had been.

"Well, you seem more coherent than you have been so far. How you feelin' aside from the pain?"

Tony knew his boss was referring to his mental alertness and emotional state of mind in general. But he also knew he wasn't interested in hearing any specifics. "I can definitely tell that most of the anesthesia is finally out of my system now. As for how I feel about everything that happened – well, can't seem to remember half of it. Then again maybe that's a _good _thing."

"Yeah. Ya remember Ari comin in here earlier? Came to deliver a message basically, the hard way of course." Gibbs tested Tony's recollection of their earlier discussion where he had told him about his heroic attempt to try and get to Ari even while hooked up to IV's, pumps and monitors.

"Yeah, it's a little foggy but I remember the gist of it. What's that bastard up to now? Better yet, what are ya planning to do about it?" Tony was feeling much better as far as the pain scale went now that the morphine seemed to be doing it's job but he also knew that he was getting drowsy again because of it and that it wouldn't be long before he would be succumbing to it's effects.

"Al-right." Gibbs said after pausing for several moments while he decided if Tony was up to talking about the case. Finally relenting since after all, Tony was the one who had been affected the most by Ari's recent actions.

"So far here's where we're at, after the hospital gave Abby full use of their lab so I could keep an eye on all of you, she's already been able to detect some of the more rare components of that damn spray that Ari doused me with. Kate and McGee did some digging and found that the only way to obtain a couple of the more rare components, is though underground channels. Once they track down who sold or purchased some of the rare components recently - we can make some arrests and force them to lead us to Ari. I will use them as bait if I have to!"

"Wow, that's . . . that's pretty good progress boss." Gibbs instantly detected the hesitancy in Tony's voice and the shadows of doubt clouding his face. Either he was just down because he wasn't able to help more with the case or he didn't believe this was enough of a lead to track down someone as cunning as Ari. He decided to continue, vowing he would figure out the real reason for his injured agent's dire mood later.

"Yeah well, you know and I know - Ari's not stupid - so I highly doubt he would be that sloppy when it comes to leaving any kind of trail or falling for that kind of bait. We need more time to think this through but unfortunately, we don't _**have **_time. It's not a question of whether or not Ari will make another attempt to bring harm to one of us -** it's a given**."

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**A/N –**_ _Hope you liked this update! It's not the longest chapter but not the shortest and it had lot's to Tony/Gibbs time so hopefully that made up for it. _

_**Preview Of Upcoming Chapters: **__Get ready for the next couple of chapters when all hell will break loose again with more of Ari's shenanigans that will put at least two more member of Gibbs team in danger and possibly Tony again as well! __**:-) Please review! **_


	17. Positive AN But Not A Chapter Yet

_**Attention Readers**__ – DON'T WORRY - I am NOT discontinuing ANY of my stories and will never ever do that to you - you have my solemn word!_

_I am appalled by Author's that do that to their loyal fans! I also hate when they put an author's note where a chapter should be (like I am doing now haha) but this time I had no choice since you deserve to know why the heck I've been so slow at updating my fics. _

_Thanks for hangin' with me and for your patience and I hope you will continue to do so! Love you all and you will see updates coming very very soon!_

_BnBFanatic :-)_


	18. All Hell Is Breaking Loose!

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

_**Previously on: "A Matter Of Life And Death"**__ (_Gibbs bringing bed ridden Tony up to speed on the "Ari" case)

"So far here's where we're at, after the hospital gave Abby full use of their lab so I could keep an eye on all of you, she's already been able to detect some of the more rare components of that damn spray that Ari doused me with. Kate and McGee did some digging and found that the only way to obtain a couple of the more rare components, is though underground channels. Once they track down who sold or purchased some of the rare components recently - we can make some arrests and force them to lead us to Ari. I will use them as bait if I have to!"

"Wow, that's . . . that's pretty good progress boss." Gibbs instantly detected the hesitancy in Tony's voice and the shadows of doubt clouding his face. Either he was just down because he wasn't able to help more with the case or he didn't believe this was enough of a lead to track down someone as cunning as Ari. He decided to continue, vowing he would figure out the real reason for his injured agent's dire mood later.

"Yeah well, you know and I know - Ari's not stupid - so I highly doubt he would be that sloppy when it comes to leaving any kind of trail or falling for that kind of bait. We need more time to think this through but unfortunately, we don't _have _time. It's not a question of whether or not Ari will make another attempt to bring harm to one of us - it's a given."

_~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~ncis~_

**A Matter Of Life Or Death**

**Part XVI**

_**DC Business District Office Park – McGee & Kate. . .**_

Kate and McGee had worked diligently, using Abby's brilliant leads they were finally able to track down one of the sellers of the illegally obtained chemicals that were part of the spray used on their boss. Now it was up to them to bring the main suspect in while Gibbs remained at Tony's side, protecting him from further harm.

They had followed the suspect as he arrived at a small business park that consisted of multiple small individual buildings labeled A through E. Chou drove past the first couple of buildings arriving at building C where he has his own private office that he solely used as a cover for his underground and highly unethical dealings.

**Jong Wai Chou** - had a degree in chemistry and was a borderline genius. Having spent years creating new combinations of drugs using his chemistry talent as well as his vast knowledge of rare Chinese herbs – he had eventually been approached by some questionable sources seeking use of some of these deadly combinations. In dire need of money, it hadn't taken much effort on their part, to persuade Chou to accept the dangerous agreement almost immediately.

Kate and McGee wasted no time approaching the man near his vehicle in the moderate size parking lot that was surrounded by beautifully manicured landscaping. Trees and other nearby buildings. They knew they needed to get to him before he entered the building which would have increased the risk to other people if Chou tried to get away from them or worse yet grabbed a nearby employee to use as a shield - or as a captive.

"Excuse me – Mr. Chou?" Kate stated firmly as they got within a few feet from the man. Both she and McGee whipped out their badges raising them in the air on clear display alerting the evil man to the seriousness of their visit and hoping like hell he wouldn't bolt.

Once Jong saw the badges of the two NCIS agents in front of him it was all he could do to control his rising panic. Deciding to play it cool on the off chance that they weren't there to nail him for his illegal associations, he portrayed a exterior calmness that contradicted with the internal overbeating of his heart and sudden acidity of his nervous stomach.

After hearing them state the reasons behind why they were arresting him he did his best to convince them they had been given bad information and that they had the wrong man – all of which fell to deaf ears as both Kate and McGee could only think of Tony and Gibbs and how close both of them had come to being killed – Gibbs attack directly related to this man's criminal doings. This very man's misguided talents had played a large role in the most recent attack on Gibbs and it took every ounce of will power and strength that Kate and McGee had, not to take out their anger on the demented and greedy criminal.

Kate was angrily reading Chou his rights just as Tim had begun to cuff the man planning to bring him to NCIS for interrogation when suddenly out of nowhere, a shot rang out and all hell broke loose!

Tim ducked down behind their suspect's Volvo- simultaneously pulling Chou down with him seeking cover. Kate following less than a second later, reacting out of sheer reflex from being fired upon. Tim rose to a semi-squatting position, peeking up over the trunk of the vehicle as he pulled his weapon and quickly scanned the area all around them, including any nearby rooftops. He was hoping to spot the shooter either trying to take another crack at them – or trying to get away. Not seeing anything he made fast work of getting the other cuff on their suspect before he took advantage of the new distraction and tried to bolt himself.

"Kate, you okay?" he finally hollered suddenly worried about his teammate, realizing he hadn't heard her react at all.

"Uhhh, Ma-Gee?" Kate responded weakly, her voice lacked its usual firmness.

Tim immediately glanced over and the first thing he noticed was a fast growing splotch of red appearing on the white silk sleeve of Kate's left arm. The second thing he noticed was her just staring at the wound in disbelief and seemingly not feeling the pain of the hot lead that had just passed all the way through her upper arm – _'Damn, she's in a state of shock!'_ Tim realized.

"Oh my God, KATE! Are you alright? Did you get hit anywhere else?" He asked, suddenly forgetting they had only heard one shot. No response.

"KATE!"

While Tim fumbled to get his cell phone out of his pocket to call for a back-up team and an ambulance he barely registered the Asian man going on and on about mistaken identity and how he was going to sue NCIS since he was almost killed while being detailed by them, blah, blah, blah. Tim tuned out the rest of the man's rants completely.

Hanging up his phone he turned his attention to helping Kate, kneeling down, he still had his weapon out and kept it pointed at Chou while he used his free hand to push Kate's hand away in order to get a better look at the wound.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he saw both an entry and exit wound, Though it would bleed more for obvious reasons, at least there wasn't a bullet still wedged inside to cause more damage. Realizing he couldn't cover both holes using one hand he acted quickly and grabbed Kate's cuffs off of her slim belt and after looking around he spotted a steel bike rack that was bolted firmly into the cement. Grabbing Chou by the arm Tim hoisted them both up to a standing position and dragged the feisty suspect over to a bike rack that was just 4-5 feet away from the car. Using the second set of cuffs he locked the still complaining Chou to the solid rack which was so low to the ground that the man had no choice but to sit down on the cold cement curb.

Running back to Kate Tim re-holstered his weapon and used his free hand to quickly flash his badge to the growing crowd of onlookers and yelling out an announcement that they were NCIS agents and that he needed everyone to proceed inside the building in case the shooter was still in the vicinity. They would have to question the bystanders later seeking witnesses to the shooting.

As he got to Kate whom he found was now sitting down on the sidewalk, he pulled off his expensive suit jacket – using it to wrap around his partner's shoulders for warmth and hoping to keep her from going into shock. He made quick work of unbuttoning his dress shirt, thankful for the t-shirt he had worn underneath today. Ripping his fairly new midnight blue dress shirt in two he quickly tied it in place around her wounded arm and effectively slowing the blood flow, much to his and Kate's relief.

By now sirens could be heard as back up arrived at the scene as did the eagerly anticipated ambulance that would to bring them back to the very hospital they had just left a few hours earlier. While medics were getting Kate onto a stretcher, ignoring her demands that she doesn't need the ambulance – her words were drowned out by an explosion loud enough to cause all of their ears to ring!

Everyone ducked for cover before slowing rising back up and looking over to the office building C, the one located closest to them. As the smoke and debris settled and fire rose up from the blown out windows, the silence that descended over the scene momentarily was broken yet again as Jong W. Chou yelled out in a shaky and traumatized voice -

"My office!"

_**Hospital ICU – Tony's Room . . .**_

Tony was sleeping yet again after the morphine seemed to have crept into his very being within ten minutes of his pressing the button on the 'self serve pump' as he had started calling it – the strong narcotic pulling him down until he slid under the rim of consciousness.

Gibbs had taken to pacing back and forth across the room, mulling over every meeting, conversation and confrontation that had taken place between he and Ari, stemming all the way back to the first time they had met in Ducky's autopsy lab. By doing so he had hoped he might be able to detect some minor slip up, unknowingly made by the Israeli but all his reminiscing had managed to do – was raise his blood pressure and royally piss him off.

His cell phone rang from its place on his hip, startling him out of his trip down bad memory lane – or rather the quick aisle. Grabbing it with the speed of a top gun shooter he cursed himself for not having McGee show him how to put the damn thing on vibrate. As he answered, he stole a sideways glance towards Tony's bed, checking to see if the phone had roused his healing agent. To his relief Tony hadn't moved a muscle and from all outside appearances, seemed to remain in deep slumber.

Putting the phone to his ear he answered, "This better be good!" Gibbs whispered – somehow still managing to sound like he was yelling.

Tony laid as still as possible in his bed, awake but unmoving solely for the purpose of eavesdropping on his bosses call. He knew it wasn't the smartest thing he had ever done but he needed to know what was really going on with the case and the team since he knew Gibbs was keeping a lot of it away from him in order to keep his weak blood pressure from suddenly shooting up in the opposite direction and causing him both physical as well as mental duress.

He justified his actions by telling himself that this sneaky, unnaturally stoic behavior – was definitely something Gibbs would do if he were in Tony's shoes.

"WHAT! When?" Gibbs continued speaking in a whispering bellow.

"How bad?"

It was killing Tony not to just raise his automatic bed up and demand to know what was going down. He would wait until he heard as much as possible before he announced his conscious presence.

"**You tell her** I will be in the Emergency Room within in **three minutes**!"

Snapping his phone shut, it took all of his self control to stop himself seconds before he was about to throw his phone against the nearest wall. Realizing he had to make sure Tony was protected before bolting out of there, he looked over at the man's bed - shocked yet again to see glassy green eyes staring back at him with worry.

"How much did ya hear DiNozzo?"

"All of it. Doesn't tell me squat though Gibbs and you know it. What happened? Who got hurt?"

When all he got in return was his bosses' most intense glare Tony continued pleading his case.

"Look boss, you may as well level with me. You _know_I will find a way to get answers on my own - and that will be _much _worse."

'_Dammit all to hell' _Gibbs thought,he knew Tony would do just that – he would not give up on this until he knew every detail.

"Alright but I don't have time to tell you everything right now but I promise, I'll come back and bring you up to speed on all of it later. Right now I have to get to ER. But you gotta promise me something in return Tony."

"Anything." Tony agreed.

"Ya gotta promise me that you will not let anything I tell you, cause you any kind of set back! You stay calm and let me handle everything – ya got it?"

"Yeah, I got it boss. Now who was hurt?"

"Abby."

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

_**Post chapter A/N - **__There it is! I hoped you liked it as I made sure to kick up the danger and excitement a couple of notches._

_I know you expected Gibbs to say KATE at the end but I thought of a great twist to perk the story up at this point. You have my word that I will update this story for SURE within 7 to 10 days max just so you don't have to wait weeks to find out what happened. __**See below . . .**_


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